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HEROES OF 
AMERICAN HISTORY 



COLUMBUS 




BUST OF COLUMBUS BY BOZZANO 



COLUMBUS 

THE DISCOVERER 



BY 



FREDERICK A. OBER 



HEROES OF AMERICAN HISTORY 




HARPER 6- BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

1906 






# 






\^^^'£::?''<^'£:7'<::^-^'^^^^' 



£\ W 
612. 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDies Received 

FEB 15 1906 

(] Copyrleht Entry 
CLASS (Ay XXc. No, 

/i ^V 7 6 

^ COPY B. 



Copyright, 1906, by Harper & Brothers. 



All rights reserved. 
Published February, 1906. 



•^ 



.^ 



^ 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Sailor and Corsair (1475) .... i 
II. The Man with a World in His Gift 

(1475-1488) 15 

III. From Palace to Monastery (1488- 

1491) 29 

IV. How Columbus Became an Admiral 

(1491) 43 

V. The "Gap in the Globe" (1492) . . 56 

VI. Where is San Salvador? (1492) . . 70 

VII. Cuba and the Mythical Cipango (1492) 84 
VIII. Where the Flag-Ship was Wrecked 

(1492) 97 

IX. The Return Voyage to Spain (1493) . 114 

X. A Triumphal Journey (1493) . . . 12S 
XL Second Voyage and First Settlement 

(1493) 142 

XII. Expeditions in Search of Gold (1494) 159 

XIII. Jamaica Discovered (1494) .... 176 

XIV. Subjugation of the Indians (1495- 

1496) 189 

XV. The Rule of Don Bartholomew 

(1496-1498) 206 

XVI. The Third Voyage of Discovery (1498) 220 

V 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVII. Columbus and His Brothers in 

Irons (1500) 234 

XVIII. The Last and Most Disastrous Voy- 
age (1502-1504) 247 

XIX. Shipwreck and Rescue, Coast of 

Jamaica (1503-1504) 267 

XX. The End of a Great Career . . . 281 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

/ 

BUST OF COLUMBUS BY BOZZANO . . . Frontispiece 

COLUMBUS DEMONSTRATING HIS THEORY 

OF THE earth's ROTUNDITY . . . Facing p. 28 
THE LANDING AT GUANAHANI .... " 76 , 

RETURN OF COLUMBUS FROM HIS FIRST 

VOYAGE " 134 ''^ 

COLUMBUS NEGOTIATES A PEACE WITH 

ROLDAN " 228 ^ 

" THE ADELANTADO SALLIED FORTH . . . AND 

SWORE HE WOULD HACK THEM TO 

PIECES " " 272 

THE DEATH OF COLUMBUS " 290.^' 

LEAD CASKET WHICH CONTAINED BONES 

OF COLUMBUS *' 294 



COLUMBUS 



COLUMBUS 



SAILOR AND CORSAIR 
1475 

CROWNING a headland on the coast of 
Spain, less than thirty miles distant 
from the southern boundary-line of Portugal, 
stands the ancient monastery of La Rabida. 
It was founded, according to tradition, dur- 
ing the reign of Trajan, Roman emperor, 
more than eighteen hundred years ago, and 
for a time was occupied by the Knights 
Templars, after the expulsion of the Moors 
from Spain becoming a possession of the 
Franciscan monks. As its name in Arabic 
signifies an outpost, they called it " Santa 
Maria de la Rabida," or the monastery of 
Saint Mary of the Frontier. It is almost as 
lonely now as in the time of him whose 
fortunes we shall shortly follow, for the near- 



COLUMBUS 

est settlement is Palos, three miles away, 
while the same distance separates it from the 
Atlantic, the roar of whose waves may be 
heard here in times of storm, as they dash 
upon the "Arenas Gordas," or wild wastes 
of sands, that render this coast uninhab- 
itable. 

The headland upon which La Rabida is 
situated is based between two rivers, the 
Tinto and Domingo Rubio, the confluent 
waters of which form the Odiel, then flow 
past a sandy island and mid foaming break- 
ers to the ocean. Down this channel, float- 
ing on the bosom of the Tinto from Palos, 
came the caravels of Columbus, one day in 
August, 1492, and, taking their departure 
from La Rabida, sailed out into the ocean, 
on that voyage which made their crews akin 
to the immortals. Two thousand years ago 
this coast was known to the Phoenicians, for 
those daring sailors of Tyre, who found the 
passage between the Pillars of Hercules, 
came here to mine the ores of Tarshish, which 
they shipped from the port of Huelva, and 
which can be seen from La Rabida, across an 
arm of the sea, shining like a silvery snow- 
drift against the purple of its hills. Huelva 
was the "copper port" of ancient Tarshish, 



SAILOR AND CORSAIR 

mention of which is made in the Bible, and 
the Rio Tinto [pronounced Teen- to, mean- 
ing colored] is said to derive its name from 
the beds of copper over which it flows. 

Particular mention is made of La Rabida, 
at the outset of our voyagings with Colum- 
bus, because (strange though it may seem) it 
is, perhaps, the first spot with which we can 
positively identify the great discoverer in the 
early period of his wonderful career. As to 
the exact date of his birth, the house in which 
he was born, his adventures during youth 
and early manhood, his personal appearance 
even, there is "a great diversity of opinion 
among historians"; but the mists of ob- 
scurity dissolve away when, in the course of 
his wanderings, Columbus arrives at the 
hospitable portal of La Rabida. His ex- 
periences there will be narrated in due course ; 
but it should be borne in mind that they were 
so important, and had such a bearing upon 
his subsequent discoveries in the " New 
World" — then to be revealed — that the old 
monastery has been aptly termed 'the 
corner-stone of American history." 

Christopher Columbus first arrived in 
Spain in the year 1484 or 1485, having come 
from Portugal with his son Diego. He in- 
3 



COLUMBUS 

tended to leave him with his sister-in-law, 
then residing at Moguer, or at Huelva, which 
towns form, together with Palos, not far dis- 
tant from either, a distinguished triad in 
the history of Spain. He was on his way 
to the court of Isabella and Ferdinand, then 
at Cordova, and (though some historians 
make no mention of this first, conjectural 
arrival at La Rabida) it is quite possible 
he came here before going farther into An- 
dalusia. In the first place, Huelva and 
Palos were the nearest Spanish ports to 
Portugal, whence he had come; in the sec- 
ond. La Rabida was the most conspicuous 
landmark on that part of the coast, the 
point of arrival and departure for many 
a mariner, its white towers being visible 
many miles at sea. He was not, however, 
a native of Spain, nor was his first visit to 
that country made until he was well ad- 
vanced in life ; as all the world should know, 
and as it seems hardly necessary to remind 
the reader. 

Despite the uncertainty attaching to the 
exact place of his birth — so far as village, 
street, and house are concerned — there can 
exist no doubt whatever as to his nationality. 
He was an Italian, and was born in Genoa, 
4 



SAILOR AND CORSAIR 

as he himself testifies in his last will and 
testament, in the following item: 

"I also enjoin Diego [his son], or any one who 
may inherit the estate, to have and maintain in 
the city of Genoa one person of our Hneage to 
reside there with his wife, and appoint him a sufh- 
cient revenue to enable him to live decently, as 
a person closely connected with the family, of 
which he is to be the root and basis in that city; 
from which great good may accrue to him, inas- 
much as I was born there, and came from thence." 

He was a native of Genoa, most assuredly ; 
but as to the date of his birth his biographers 
hold various opinions, with the majority in 
favor of that given by Washington Irving, 
which is "about" the year 1435. Although 
he may have been of what is called " illus- 
trious descent," or allied to the nobility, 
the fact that it was not discovered until 
after he had become the most famous man 
in the world, casts a shadow of doubt upon 
the claim. His natural son, Ferdinand, who 
wrote a biography of the great "Admiral," 
does not dwell upon the fact that his father 
was the son of Dominico Colombo, a humble 
wool-comber, and his wife Susanna; but he 
sensibly concludes that he "should derive 



COLUMBUS 

less dignity from any nobility of ancestry 
than from being the son of such a father," 

As the eldest child of a poor man, himself 
probably uneducated, Christopher Colum- 
bus did not obtain the benefits of an educa- 
tion in the schools to any great extent. He 
was taught, or taught himself, reading, writ- 
ing, grammar, and arithmetic, was good at 
drawing, and had a decided taste for geo- 
graphical studies. There is a tradition that 
he at one time attended the university of 
Pavia, and, though this has been denied by 
some historians who profess to know, he 
somehow and somewhere (but probably in 
the rough school of experience) acquired a 
knowledge, ample for his times, of geometry, 
astronomy, geography, and navigation ; while 
as for Latin, he could both write and speak 
it fluently. 

He had two brothers, Bartholomew and 
Diego, to whom he was strongly attached, 
and of whom we shall learn something more 
than their names in the course of this nar- 
rative. He also had a sister, who married 
a person in her own station of life, and fell 
into the abysm of obscurity. Like Napoleon 
Bonaparte, no sooner had Christopher Co- 
lumbus risen to a height above the level 
6 



SAILOR AND CORSAIR 

of the masses, than he stooped and raised 
his brothers beside him. They served him 
faithfully, loyally, and he requited their 
services to his best ability. Their devotion 
to each other in after life causes one to 
regret that we could not know more of their 
youthful years, and especially of the chief 
personage of this remarkable trio. 

One thing is certain : Christopher could not 
have remained long at the university, even 
if he entered it, as at the age of fourteen he 
was serving as a sailor, on board a ship 
commanded by Captain Colombo, who is 
said to have been a connection of his family. 
He was also called a corsair, by courtesy; 
but, if the truth be told, it would appear 
that he was an out-and-out pirate, making 
a specialty of plundering the Mohammedan 
Moors, but not objecting to rich prizes of 
any nationality, should they fall in his way. 

Under Corsair Colombo, young Christo- 
pher rapidly acquired a knowledge of navi- 
gation, as well as of warfare, that stood him 
in good stead later in life. He was engaged 
in many encounters, the traditions say, and 
on the coast of Africa received a bullet in 
his body which he carried to his dying day. 
At least, in the casket in Santo Domingo 
7 



COLUMBUS 

which, it is alleged, contains his sacred ashes, 
a bullet was found large enough to have 
inflicted a serious wound, and which must 
have been very inconvenient to carry about, 
whether in body or limb. 

A strong attachment seems to have sprung 
up between the corsair and his young rela- 
tive, and when the veteran retired from 
active life, Columbus shipped for several 
cruises with his nephew, who was called 
Colombo the younger, and made himself 
such a terror to the Moors that the African 
coast of the Mediterranean was inspired 
with a dread of his very name. While serv- 
ing under the elder Colombo, Christopher is 
presumed to have been on board a ship of 
the squadron fitted out, in 1459, by John of 
Anjou, Duke of Calabria, against the king- 
dom of Naples. During the long struggle, 
which lasted four years, there was oppor- 
tunity for Columbus to distinguish himself; 
and, indeed, he is said to have improved it 
on at least one occasion, in the harbor of 
Tunis, when he cut out an enemy's galley. 

After the Naples expedition the young 

mariner was lost to sight for several years, 

in the interval between 1459 and 1470, 

having made his way to Portugal, where he 

8 



SAILOR AND CORSAIR 

made his advent (according to his son 
Ferdinand) in a most romantic manner. 
While he was with the younger Colombo, 
that reckless corsair attacked with his squad- 
ron four great Venetian galleys laden with 
rich cargoes. In the height of the conflict, 
and while Colombo's flag-ship was attached 
to one of the Venetian vessels by chains and 
grappling-irons, both burst into flames and 
were consumed to the water's edge. Their 
crews barely escaped by casting themselves 
into the sea, and among them was Columbus, 
who, with the help of a floating oar, swam 
to the shore, which was five or six miles dis- 
tant. Making his way to Lisbon, he took 
up his abode in that city, where he resided 
for a fifth part of his life. The statement 
that he went to Portugal is true; but grave 
doubts are entertained as to his entering 
that country in the manner indicated, for 
it is thought he had already been a resident 
there several years when the encounter took 
place. 

In whatever manner, and however im- 
pelled, Columbus was moved to take up his 
residence in Portugal, it cannot be doubted 
that it was in accord with the "eternal fit- 
ness of things." Born in a seaport city, 
9 



COLUMBUS 

early taking to the seafaring life as a career, 
after long dwelling upon the problems pre- 
sented to a thoughtful mind as to the pos- 
sible extension of oceanic voyaging, it was 
but natural that he should seek out the 
foremost nation of that time in maritime 
discovery. Though he may have returned 
to Genoa afterwards (some say in 1472), he 
never resided there for any length of time. 
He became naturalized as a citizen in Portu- 
gal, and the ties he formed there were further 
cemented by his marriage to an estimable 
lady of noble birth, Dofia Felipa Munoz de 
Palestrello, who, like himself, came of Italian 
ancestry. 

Religious and devotional, Columbus at- 
tended church with regularity, and it was 
while in the chapel of a convent at Lisbon 
that he first saw the lady who became his 
wife. Her father had been a naval officer 
under Prince Henry of Portugal, and was at 
one time governor of the island of Porto 
Santo, but at his death had left no great 
fortune to his daughter. The marriage ^ 
which quickly followed their first meeting, 
was one of pure attachment simply, and, 
though both were poor, they seem to have 
been happy and contented. They lived at 
10 



SAILOR AND CORSAIR 

first with Dona Felipa's mother at Lisbon, 
but soon after their marriage removed to 
Porto Santo in the Madeira Islands, where 
the bride's father had left her a small estate. 
All the charts and manuscripts of the de- 
ceased navigator were placed at the dis- 
posal of Columbus by his mother-in-law, 
and it is thought that by poring over them 
(disclosing as they did the schemes and 
discoveries of the Portuguese) he became 
possessed of the idea, which was persistent 
with him ever after, of sailing westward in 
search of a passage to the Indies. Under 
the enlightened Prince Henry, son of John 
I. and his wife, who was a sister of Henry 
IV. of England, Portugal had made great 
strides towards the circumnavigation of 
Africa, and attained an advanced position 
in commerce and navigation. Portuguese 
ships had crept from cape to cape of 
the "Dark Continent," and the problem 
the prince had set himself was in process 
of solution at the time of his death, in 

1473- 

While the Spanish sovereigns were press- 
ing their conquests on land, Portugal was 
advancing her banners along the coast of 
Africa. Until that time, however, no navi- 



COLUMBUS 

gators had penetrated into the Atlantic, or 
"Sea of Darkness," as it then was termed, 
farther westward from the coast than the 
Cape de Verde and Azores islands. Theories 
there had been, from times most ancient, 
including those of Plato and other philoso- 
phers, and there was a firm belief in the 
"lost Atlantis," an island far westward in 
the ocean voids, vestiges of which were still 
believed to exist. It was no new theory 
which began to take shape in the mind of 
Columbus: that beyond the farthest limits 
of man's voyaging into the Atlantic a land, 
or lands, existed, pertaining or adjacent to 
the Asian continent. 

The idea developed slowly, but it per- 
sisted with Columbus, strengthened by what 
he had read, what he had observed, and by 
several accidental circumstances. He knew 
all that the ancients had written on the 
subject ; he had thought for years along the 
lines they had suggested, and in his mind 
he had already projected himself across the 
waste of waters to the unknown countries of 
his imagination. Possessed of strong sense 
and a penetrating mind, although imagina- 
tive and even superstitious, it is probable 
that Columbus rejected the rumors respect- 

12 



SAILOR AND CORSAIR 

ing the mythical St. Brandan's Isle; but he 
undoubtedly believed in Plato's Atlantis, and 
expected to find it somewhere in the Atlantic, 
between the Cape de Verdes and India. 

Some writers have accepted, some rejected, 
the story of the shipwrecked pilot who re- 
turned to the Madeiras with a tale of new 
countries, and who expired in the house of 
Columbus, after narrating his strange ex- 
periences. It matters not whether Colum- 
bus received information from him that de- 
cided him in venturing westward in search 
of those lands, or made his decision from 
having heard of the various objects brought 
across the Atlantic by the waves and cast 
upon the shores of different islands. One 
of the King's pilots told him he had found 
at sea a piece of wood carved by some in- 
strument not of iron, probably of stone or 
flint. Immense reeds, similar to those said to 
grow in India, and huge trunks of trees un- 
like any in Europe or the islands, had been 
cast ashore after strong westerly winds, 
together with the bodies of two dead men, 
whose features resembled those of none 
known to Africa or Europe. 

All these things Columbus made note of, 
carefully treasuring every fact, every item 
13 



COLUMBUS 

of information, in corroboration of his theory 
of a western world beyond the waste of 
waters. An idea held tenaciously, a pur- 
pose strongly fixed, will attract support from 
every side, as the magnet draws the bits of 
iron. The theory of Columbus was not an 
inspiration, but a growth, or mental process, 
having its inception in a vigorous mind and 
sustained by cumulative circumstances. The 
idea might have occurred to any other man, 
have been entertained awhile, then have 
been forgotten or cast aside. In the mind 
of Columbus this seed, or germ, found fertile 
soil for its development; it grew and flour- 
ished until supremely dominant. 



II 

THE MAN WITH A WORLD IN HIS GIFT 
1475-1488 

PORTO Santo was a veritable "Fortu- 
nate Isle" for Columbus. His resi- 
dence there, though brief, was one of the 
brightest, happiest periods of his life, which 
after that was beset by cares innumerable. 
There he had come in contact with mari- 
ners from adown the coast of Africa; thence 
(it is a tradition) he made a voyage to the 
Guinea coast; there he enjoyed converse 
with his brother-in-law, Pedro Correa, a 
man versed in all the mysteries of the sea; 
there he learned of the strange flotsam 
brought by the waves of ocean to the Afri- 
can islands ; there his son Diego was born, in 
1475; and there he dwelled, with his lovely 
wife, in sweet content, environed by the sea. 
But he was not one to remain long con- 
tented in an obscure part of the world. He 
had a mission to fulfil, a theory to expound, 
15 



COLUMBUS 

and this mission and this theory could only 
be advanced and developed by the great 
ones of the world. So he went back to 
Portugal and to troubles many. In pur- 
suance of his design, to collate from every 
source all known information respecting 
the existence of a western world, Columbus 
opened a correspondence with the Floren- 
tine geographer and astronomer Paolo Tos- 
canelli, who not only approved his plans, but 
sent him a map on which the eastern coast 
of Asia was represented as opposed to the 
western coasts of Europe and Africa. It 
had been projected according to the great 
Ptolemy and the somewhat fanciful descrip- 
tions of the famed Venetian Marco Polo, 
who, combined, were responsible for many 
errors subsequently entertained by Colum- 
bus. We will discuss a little later the mis- 
takes Columbus made on account of this 
map, merely mentioning that perhaps it 
was fortunate, on the whole, that by means 
of it the real distance separating Europe and 
the east coast of Asia was apparently short- 
ened, as thereby the passage of the inter- 
vening ocean was rendered feasible. 

Columbus did not remain idle when in 
Portugal, for he had a living to obtain, and, 
i6 



THE MAN WITH A WORLD IN HIS GIFT 

besides pursuing his chosen profession of 
map and chart making, he took at least one 
voyage, when, in 1477, he "navigated one 
hundred leagues beyond Thule," which is 
supposed to have been Iceland. When in 
that region of the world, he may have heard 
the Scandinavian legends relating to the 
voyages of the Norsemen to America in the 
tenth century and previous. The narra- 
tive of Leif Erik's voyage to "Vinland," 
and the settlement formed there, may have 
come to the knowledge of Columbus, and 
thus confirmed the impressions he had 
formed and added to the information he 
had gathered. 

Some writers, in truth, assume that he 
derived his positive information as to the 
existence of America almqst wholly from 
the Norse narrative; but in any event, it is 
certain that the Norsemen, and not Colum- 
bus, really "discovered" America. They 
were the first to visit our shores, it is true, 
and the honor of the discovery is theirs; 
but Columbus was the first to open the New 
World to the influences of European civiliza- 
tion. In the interval between the Norse 
voyages and those of Columbus, however, 
such knowledge as had been gained of the 
17 



COLUMBUS 

continent now called America was lost, or 
hidden, and as the actual discoverers made 
no permanent settlement, and left no record 
for others to follow immediately after, noth- 
ing of value resulted from their daring 
ventures. 

Soon after this voyage to Thule, it is be- 
lieved, Columbus formulated the informa- 
tion he had been so many years in gather- 
ing, and, after a fruitless proposition to his 
native Genoa, craved an audience of King 
John II. of Portugal. The fortunes of Genoa, 
the glorious, were then on the decline, and 
maritime supremacy had passed to sturdy 
Portugal. Prince Henry, of precious mem- 
ory, had opened the way by the establish- 
ment of his nautical college and the pushing 
fon^'ard of exploration along the coast of 
Africa, by which Portuguese navigators had 
attained that supremacy. King John him- 
self had assembled his ablest cosmographers, 
astronomers, and cartographers, and the most 
notable result of their conferences was the 
perfection of the astrolabe, the primitive 
quadrant, so that mariners were no longer 
dependent upon landmarks for their voyag- 
ings, but could push forward boldly mto the 
open ocean. 

i8 



THE AAaN VVITH A WORLD IN SIS GIFT 

Sureiv. Portugsl tss the counrnr ':vfaicii 
should have availed itseif ox the otter oi 
Colmnfaus, which was to open a way to the 
Indies by a shorter route than around Af- 
rica or through the Mediterranean, the Red. 
and Arabian seas. But Portugal lost, as ^Hp^ 
deserved to lose, the honors and emoiumenns 
which were to dow rrom. the liiscovery ot rhe 
Xew World, because she 'ised. cunning and 
treachery in ha* lieaiings wrrh Columbus. 
The King was attracted by his scheme — even 
re^xded it fevorably — bur. as the dtting out 
of a deet for a voya^ into the unknown 
waters was a matter -of great moment, he 
referred it to a junta composed of his learned 
men. who reported adversely. 

One. Diego Ortiz. Bishop of Cauta. seeing 
that the King was inclined to the enterrrrise. 
if it could be found in anywise feasible, 
craftily suggested that they sh^--- - 'rr 
the charts by which Columbus 
saiL and. while keeping brm in suspense, de- 
spatch a vessel over the course he - - I 
to pursue. This base suggesnon wi:- 
out, and a caravel sailed westward into the 
Atlantic for se\'eral days, lie- r 

Cape de Verdes. A storm , i 

nothing presenting but the blank expanse 
19 



COLUMBUS 

of turbulent sea, the master and pilot lost 
heart and put about for the islands, whence 
they sent to Lisbon a positive assertion that 
the project was impossible of accomplish- 
ment. Even then King John might have 
assented to an experimental voyage on a 
larger scale, but Columbus indignantly broke 
off negotiations and departed from the 
country. His experience had prepared him 
for perfidy in dealing with the Latin peo- 
ples ; but at the same time he could not con- 
done it in one of elevated rank like the King 
of Portugal. 

His dear wife had died; he had no ties 
connecting him with Portugal. Taking with 
him his motherless boy, now nine years of 
age, he left his adopted country ; but wheth- 
er he went directly to Spain, to Genoa, or to 
Venice is a matter somewhat in doubt. It 
is probable, however, that he sought an 
asylum in the country nearest, which was 
Spain, after despatching his noble brother 
Bartholomew on a mission to England, there 
to place his project before King Henry VH. 
Thus we see Columbus (as a gifted writer has 
said) begging his way from court to court, 
and vainly offering to kings and princes the 
gift of a world. 

20 



THE MAN WITH A WORLD IN HIS GIFT 

We have already given our reasons for 
assuming that Columbus landed first in 
Spain at La Rabida, or Huelva. At the 
latter place, or at Moguer, a town a few- 
miles inland from Huelva and Palos, re- 
sided a sister of his deceased wife, Senora 
Muliar, with whom, probably, little Diego 
was left while his father pursued his quest 
for patrons. This assumption does not con- 
flict with the statement that the first definite 
information respecting Columbus in con- 
nection with the nobility of Spain traces 
him to the house of the rich and powerful 
Duke of Medina Celli, in the province of 
Cadiz. The vast estates of this great vassal 
of the crown lay along the coast of southern 
Spain, and his host of retainers formed a 
little army by themselves. He had served 
the sovereigns and himself most effectually 
in ridding Andalusia of the Moors, and when, 
after entertaining Columbus a while as an 
honored guest, he wrote to Queen Isabella 
recommending his visitor to her favor, she 
promptly replied, requesting that he be sent 
to her. 

The court was then at Cordova, and thither 
went Columbus, bearing a letter from the 
Duke, in which it was stated that while that 



COLUMBUS 

noble greatly desired to equip some of his 
own caravels, and send out an expedition 
from his port of Santa Maria, near Cadiz, 
he was deterred, not only by the magnitude 
of the enterprise, but by the consideration 
that such a venture pertained only to the 
sovereign power. Should it be sent, how- 
ever, he desired to participate in furnishing 
the armament, and placed his services for 
that purpose at the Queen's disposal. He 
closed by recommending Columbus to their 
Most Gracious Majesties, and bespeaking for 
him the regard and attention to which he 
was entitled on account of his magnificent 
proposals. 

The Genoese adventurer was graciously 
received — not by the sovereigns, but by 
Alonzo de Ouintanilla, the Queen's treasurer, 
into whose charge he was given while await- 
ing an audience at court. The time of his 
arrival was hardly propitious in one sense, 
though it might have been considered so in 
another. The combined sovereigns were on 
the high-road to a conquest which was the 
sequel to cumulative victories over the 
Moors. For nearly seven centuries the 
Moors, who had invaded Spain from Africa, 
possessed the greater part of Spain. They 



THE MAN WITH A WORLD IN HIS GIFT 

had erected mosques and palaces, conquered 
provinces, founded cities, and their language 
had become diffused throughout the land. 
Their invasion had been wide-spread in its 
conquests; but, after centuries of power in 
Spain, they were compelled to retire from 
the land their ancestors had won by the 
sword. The process of expulsion was slow, 
but relentlessly went on, until all the towns 
and cities of Spain outside Andalusia were 
wrested from the Moors, and the only strong- 
holds then left to them lay in that region 
called by the Spaniards the "Land of the 
Most Holy Virgin." 

Wave after wave, through decades and 
centuries, the armies of northern Spain had 
beaten against the Moorish outposts, coming 
down from the Asturias and the Pyrenees. 
When, by the union of Isabella of Castile 
and Ferdinand of Aragon, the forces of 
greater Spain became united and invincible, 
the Moors were driven to their last strong- 
holds of refuge in the mountains near and 
along the Mediterranean. 

This was the situation at the time Colum- 
bus arrived at Cordova, in the year 1485 or 
1 486. The Spanish armies were gathering for 
the purpose of delivering that final, crushing 
23 



COLUMBUS 

blow. Six years were to elapse before it 
came; but during all that time the Spanish 
sovereigns relaxed not their vigilance. They 
and their subjects were intent upon that 
great achievement solely: the deliverance 
of their country from the hated aliens from 
Africa. They had no thought, no time for 
any other enterprise, hence it was that 
Columbus waited at court during the greater 
part of seven years. As the most fascinat- 
ing occurrences of that final period of war- 
fare took place while he was dancing attend- 
ance upon the preoccupied sovereigns, he 
witnessed most, or all, of them. He saw the 
Moorish towns and cities fall before the 
triumphant Spaniards: Antequera, Alhama, 
Illora, Loxa, Malaga, ill-fated Zahara — until 
at last, in 1490-1491, only Granada and the 
Alhambra remained untaken. 

King Ferdinand was in the field contin- 
ually, and even the Queen took an active 
part in the various sieges, though most of 
the time she was doing her utmost to keep 
the armies supplied with troops and muni- 
tions from the headquarters at Cordova, 
which, indeed, was "like a military camp," 
filled with the bustle and tumult of warlike 
operations. The King is said to have looked 
24 



THE MAN WITH A WORLD IN HIS GIFT 

coldly upon the schemes of the obscure " nav- 
igator in the threadbare cloak ' ' ; but the 
Queen was far-seeing, and, sanguine of event- 
ual success in their great undertaking, re- 
solved to retain Columbus in Spain until 
the time should come when he might be of 
service. After a long period of delay, she 
ordered a consultation to be held under 
Fray Fernando de Talavera, prior of the 
monastery of Prado. From the very first 
interview with Columbus, he is said to have 
been bitterly opposed to him and his plans, 
and it is not strange that he and the learned 
men he assembled should have made an 
unfavorable report. This commission met 
in Cordova, where Columbus was leading an 
idle, restless existence, supported by the 
court, but chafing against the chains that 
held him there, while a world was waiting 
for him beyond the ocean. He made many 
friends during this period of enforced leisure, 
among them a lady belonging to a noble 
family, Dona Beatrix Enriquez, who the 
next year became the mother of his second 
son and biographer, Fernando. 

The following winter the court removed 
to Salamanca, where, through the inter- 
cession of the Archbishop of Toledo, Grand 

25 



COLUMBUS 

Cardinal of Spain, the King finally granted 
Columbus an interview. This is declared to 
have been his first presentation to Spanish 
royalty, despite his long attendance at the 
court ; but he bore himself with dignity, and 
by his cogent reasoning and fiery enthusiasm 
almost persuaded the phlegmatic monarch 
to grant his request. But Ferdinand was 
cold and calculating, though keen and cov- 
etous. If, perchance, he perceived an op- 
portunity to gain a great advantage over 
Spain's rival, Portugal, by striking directly 
across the ocean to India, and capturing the 
vast trade of the Orient, at the same time, 
he reasoned, the venture would be costly. 
The country was already impoverished by 
the prolonged wars with the Moors, whose 
richest cities yet remained to be taken. With 
the spoil he hoped to obtain from them he 
might be able to fit out the fleet desired by 
Columbus; at all events, the wisest course 
to pursue was procrastination. 

A consultation of wise men cost nothing, 
meanwhile, and so another was called, this 
time at the famous old university of Sala- 
manca. It met in the church of the Domini- 
can convent of San Esteban, and, while the 
first junta was composed mainly of crown 
26 



THE MAN WITH A WORLD IN HIS GIFT 

councillors and a few geographers, the sec- 
ond contained pious friars and professors 
from the faculty of the university. The 
monks and religious men generally of that 
time in Spain were the conservators of 
learning, filled the professors' chairs, and 
directed the mind as well as the conscience 
of the people. They were learned in the 
lore of their age, but they were dogmatic, 
narrow-minded, illiberal, and most of those 
before whom Columbus appeared, regarding 
him as an adventurer, were intensely prej- 
udiced against him. " Because he was a 
foreigner," says the historian Oviedo, "and 
went but in simple apparel, nor otherwise 
credited than by the letter of a gray friar, 
they believed him not, neither gave ear to 
his words, whereby he was greatly tormented 
in his imagination." 

Columbus believed the world to be a 
sphere, and while he erred in underestimat- 
ing the size of it, he was in advance of his 
age in his general theories respecting the 
globe, on a portion of which man had dwelled 
so many thousand years in densest igno- 
rance of what the other half contained. 
The objections raised by the monks to the 
advanced theories of Columbus may be 
27 



COLUMBUS 

summed up in their citations from a revered 
religious writer: "Is there any one so fool- 
ish as to believe that there are antipodes, 
with their feet opposite to oui^s; people who 
walk with their heels upward and their 
heads hanging down? That there is a part 
of the world in which all things are topsy- 
turvy; where the trees grow with their 
branches downward, and where the hail, 
rain, and snow fall upward?" 

For a man to defend the theory of the 
earth's rotundity, and base his- premise of 
New- World discovery upon it, was not only 
the height of absurdity, but was also (in the 
monks' opinion) heretical, and rendered its 
advocate liable to correction. 



Ill 

FROM PALACE TO MONASTERY 
1488-I49I 

COLUMBUS was a deeply religious man, 
as zealous and as bigoted as any mem- 
ber of the fraternity. He could match the 
scriptural quotations which the brothers 
hurled at him with others equally convinc- 
ing, but he could not overcome their scruples 
and their ignorance. He then stood, as he 
may have been aware, within the shadow of 
the terrible Inquisition, then so firmly es- 
tablished in Spain, and but for his powerful 
friends might have paid the penalty for his 
"heretical sentiments" with his life. Equal- 
ly trivial with the objections already men- 
tioned were all that were brought forth, as, 
for example, the contention of one ecclesi- 
astic that St. Paul compared the heavens 
to a tent or tabernacle, hence, he argued, 
the earth must surely be flat, like the bottom 
of a tent. Even admitting, for the sake of 
29 



COLUMBUS 

argument, that the earth were round, how 
in the name of reason, said one, could a ship 
that might gain the confines of India ever 
get back to Spain again? The rotundity 
of the globe " would present a sort of moun- 
tain, up which it would be impossible for 
her to sail, even with the most favorable 
wind." 

In short, while the council was to some 
extent infected with his enthusiasm, its 
members were by no means convinced of 
the practicability of his scheme. The ma- 
jority were inflexibly opposed ; but as the 
consultation had been called mainly for the 
purpose of delaying Columbus at court, and 
preventing him from betaking himself to 
some other country, which might thereby 
reap a benefit which Ferdinand would like 
to obtain without incurring the attendant 
expense, no immediate decision was given. 
In fact, nearly or quite three years elapsed 
before a final answer was rendered the 
heart-sick seeker after royal support. 

One man, and he, it is worthy of note, 
the professor of theology at the university, 
became a convert to the views presented by 
Columbus, and was henceforth his friend. 
Diego de Deza, who afterwards became 
30 



FROM PALACE TO MONASTERY 

Archbishop of Seville, pressed his cause with 
vigor, and frequently assisted him from his 
purse, while following in the train of that 
wandering court. We next find him at 
Malaga, on the Mediterranean coast, whither 
he had been summoned by the sovereigns 
for a conference, which was prevented by 
the exigencies of that stormy and stubborn- 
ly contested siege. That year, 1487, was an 
eventful and perilous one in the lives of the 
sovereigns, for in the spring Ferdinand had 
been surprised and nearly captured by the 
wary old monarch of the Moors, and, while 
encamped before Malaga, an attempt had 
been made to assassinate both the King and 
the Queen. The assassin had sought them 
in Isabella's pavilion, a tent with silken 
walls, and by mistake had attacked two of 
their attendants, one of whom, the Marchion- 
ess of Moya, became interested in the suit 
of Columbus, and assisted in pressing it 
upon the Queen whenever occasion offered. 
That Ferdinand and Isabella had Colum- 
bus occasionally in mJnd, and were not will- 
ing he should leave the country for another 
court, he was frequently reminded, but could 
on no occasion obtain from them anything 
but evasive answers to his pleadings. They 
31 



COLUMBUS 

were stimulated to provide for his expenses 
and to grant him a sum of money in the 
nature of a retainer, in the spring of 1488, 
when, in answer to a letter he had written 
to King John II. of Portugal, Columbus re- 
ceived a cordial invitation to return, with 
a promise of immunity from "any suits of 
either a civil or criminal nature" that might 
then be pending against him. This refers 
to the report current at that time, that 
Columbus had fled from Portugal in debt, 
and with a prison yawning for his reception 
should he ever return. Another letter reach- 
ed him about this time from King Henry 
VII. of England (to whom he had sent his 
brother Bartholomew at the time of his 
departure from Portugal) containing much 
matter of an encouraging nature and an 
invitation to his kingdom. 

These communications from royal rivals 
in the race for supremacy caused the Span- 
ish sovereigns to regard their guest with 
greater favor; but still there was the same 
delay in their answers to his importunities. 
A year later he was summoned to attend 
another conference of "wise men," this time 
in Seville, and an order was issued for his 
entertainment gratis while in that "city of 
32 



FROM PALACE TO MONASTERY 

the golden tower." But another campaign 
was about to begin that year (for one was 
conducted annually, every spring), and, in- 
stead of waiting the pleasure of the monks, 
Columbus gladly followed in the train of 
the court to participate in the siege of Baza. 
There he conducted himself with great gal- 
lantry, it is recorded, and there he met two 
reverend friars, brethren from the convent 
at the holy sepulchre in Jerusalem, who had 
come with an insolent message from the 
Sultan of Egypt. It was to the effect that 
unless the Spanish sovereigns should desist 
from their wars against the Mohammedan 
Moors, he would destroy the sacred sepulchre 
and put to death every Christian in Jerusa- 
lem. This threat caused no commotion in 
the breasts of the sovereigns, who were inflex- 
ibly determined to root out every vestige 
of the Moorish population in Spain; but it 
roused the pious indignation of Columbus, 
who resolved to devote whatever profits 
should accrue from his discoveries to a 
crusade for the delivery of the holy tomb 
from the hands of the infidels. That he 
fervently desired to do this, and that he 
clung to this intention all his life, is shown 
by a clause in his last will and testament, 
23 



COLUMBUS 

written shortly before his death, in which 
he adjures his son and heir to create a fund 
for that purpose in the bank of St. George 
at Genoa, " and let it multiply there until 
such time as it may appear to him that 
something of consequence may be effected 
as respects the project for the conquest of 
Jerusalem." 

The siege of Baza was prolonged more 
than six months, but eventually it fell and 
the keys of the walled city were surrendered, 
together with the person of Muley Boabdil, 
one of the two rival kings of Granada. It 
was a most important capture, and was cele- 
brated with great rejoicings, especially in 
Seville, whither the court (followed by the 
dejected Columbus) returned, but only to 
begin preparations for the marriage of the 
sovereigns' eldest daughter, Isabella, with 
Prince Alonzo, heir-apparent to the crown of 
Portugal. The vagrant Genoese was not al- 
together forgotten, for he was now attached 
to the royal suite and a stated sum allotted 
for his maintenance. Neither was he ig- 
nored, for the courtiers ridiculed him, and 
the children were taught to tap their fore- 
heads when he passed, in token of his being 
regarded as a madman. 
34 



FROM PALACE TO MONASTERY 

Spring and summer passed away; the 
winter of 1 490-1 491 found the sovereigns 
deep in their preparations for the final cam- 
paign against the Moors, now intrenched at 
Granada. One by one, as Ferdinand said, 
he had plucked the seeds from that "pome- 
granate" (the province of Granada), and 
now he would reach forth and grasp the 
fruit. Columbus knew this was to be a 
supreme endeavor to finally extirpate the 
Moors, and he had a tacit promise from the 
Queen that when the war was over she 
would be at liberty to engage in his enter- 
prise. But he was weary from waiting, all 
those long years given to hanging upon the 
promises of royalty, of repeated rebuffs, of 
mingling with courtiers whom he despised 
and court fools whom he spurned. He in- 
sisted, at last, upon a definite answer to 
his solicitations, and he got it nearly four 
years after the conference at Salamanca had 
convened. It took those "wise men" a 
long time to decide that the project of 
Columbus was "vain and impracticable," 
and that it did not "become their high- 
nesses to have anything to do with it." Or, 
rather, while they had probably come to 
this decision four years before, they had 
35 



COLUMBUS 

taken their time to deliver themselves of 
this embodiment of ignorance and bigotry. 
They were represented by Fernando de 
Talavera, who was commanded to com- 
municate the decision to Columbus, which 
he did without delay. UnwilHng to accept 
it from the lips of his enemy Talavera, 
Columbus left Cordova, where he had been 
residing with Dofia Enriquez and their son, 
anxiously waiting, and hastened to Seville. 
There he was told, directly by or from the 
sovereigns, that they could not aid him 
then, but that if he would wait until after 
the war was over — provided it ended in the 
way they hoped and believed — they might 
bestow their patronage upon him. 

Evasion and subterfuge could suffice to 
detain their heaven-sent guest no longer. 
Filled with sorrow, indignation, and fruit- 
less regret for all those wasted years of a 
life in its prime, Columbus turned his back 
upon court, and King, and Queen. He was 
now at liberty to leave a land in which he 
had fared so ill, and, having received encour- 
aging letters from the kings of England, 
France, and Portugal, he was not altogether 
without hope or recourse. Leaving his son 
Fernando with his mother at Cordova, he 
36 



FROM PALACE TO MONASTERY 

set out for Huelva, intending, it is thought, 
to abandon Spain forever, and lay siege to 
one of the monarchs mentioned; perchance 
he might obtain that justice which had been 
denied him in Spain. 

It is supposed that his elder son Diego 
had remained, through those eventless years, 
with his aunt in Moguer, as in journeying 
to the point at which we shall next discover 
Columbus, either from Seville or Cordova, 
he would be likely to take that town on his 
way. For, whether he visited La Rabida 
or not, when he first set foot in Spain (as 
mentioned in the first chapter) he certainly 
arrived there soon after he had come to the 
determination to quit the country. Moguer 
is about a league from La Rabida, of which 
historic Palos, midway the distance, was its 
port. The fact is that Palos itself is half a 
mile or more from the Rio Tinto, and, 
though it may have been a port in the time 
of Columbus, is not now entitled to that 
distinction. The road between the two 
places winds between carefully -kept vine- 
yards, over the slopes of low - lying hills, 
thence passing through the straggling street 
of white- walled Palos, which to-day is life- 
less, and, but for its historic associations with 
4 37 



COLUMBUS 

Columbus and the first great voyage to 
America, would be unattractive. Soon after 
leaving Palos you feel the ocean breezes 
and gain a distant glimpse of the sea. The 
scenery is now sombre and sad, the fields 
devoid of vegetation, except for the remains 
of a forest adorning the summit of a hill, 
climbing the landward slope of which the 
pilgrim to this shrine of times Columbian 
reaches a small plateau. On the seaward 
verge of this plateau stands the monastery 
of La Rabida, with massive white walls, red- 
tiled roofs, and central cupola. There are 
two entrances to this building, but it was at 
the arched gateway at the right, which leads 
directly into the reception-hall of the mon- 
astery, that Columbus and his son Diego 
paused to crave refresliment, near the close 
of an autumn day in 1491. 

More than four hundred years have passed 
since these two climbed the hill-path leading 
to the portal of La Rabida, yet what young 
reader of these lines would not sympathize 
with those weary travellers who halted here 
to beg a bit of bread and cup of water? 
Hand-in-hand, rejoined after a separation of 
nearly seven years, father and son had fared 
forth to seek a foreign land. What those 
38 



FROM PALACE TO MONASTERY 

years had brought to Columbus, we know: 
weariness of heart, disappointed hopes; but 
what they had meant to the motherless lad, 
who had been left all that time without a 
father's protecting care and love, who can 
tell? His mother's sister may have been 
kind to him; but we know nothing more of 
her than merely her name. It is left to 
conjecture, in what manner the youth of 
Diego Columbus was passed. He only 
emerges from obscurity now and then, first 
as the companion of his father in his flight 
from Portugal; again as he purposes to seek 
another foreign shore, this time," probably, 
that of France. After his father's death, in 
1506, he succeeded to his titles and honors 
(though he obtained them only after long 
litigation with the crown), and died while in 
the prime of life. 

But we see them now, once more united, 
standing at the gateway of La Rabida, and 
(though they knew it not) at the parting 
of the ways. Columbus had come, as it 
were by chance, to the one man who was to 
secure for him his long - deferred reward. 
As father and son stood talking with the 
porter, they attracted the attention of the 
prior of the monastery, worthy Juan Perez 
39 



COLUMBUS 

de Marchena. Despite his humble garb and 
air of dejection, Columbus could never be 
anything but noble of bearing, and, struck 
by his dignified appearance, the prior en- 
tered into conversation with him. Then, 
finding him learned and more than ordinari- 
ly interesting, he invited him in to tarry a 
while. A fire was kindled in the great re- 
ception-room, and, as the flames leaped up 
the huge chimney-throat, the stranger told 
his story of wearisome waiting, long - cher- 
ished hopes, and finally of crushing defeat. 

Now, it happened that Juan Perez de 
Marchena had once been the religious ad- 
viser and close friend of the Queen. He had 
retired to the monastery for the purpose of 
leading a life more in accord with his desire 
for quiet and meditation than the bustle of 
a court afforded him. But he still retained 
the loving regard of Isabella the Queen, who 
knew his heart of gold and who highly 
valued his advice. 

His interest was aroused, his eye kindled, 
his heart warmed as Columbus unfolded his 
story, broached his theories, and developed 
his schemes in all their grandeur. Knowing 
the sailor-folk of Palos and the coast, aware 
of what had been done by voyagers hitherto, 
40 



FROM PALACE TO MONASTERY 

Friar Marchena was alive to all the possibili- 
ties that lay in this grand project, and he 
also realized what a glorious opportunity 
would be lost to Spain if Columbus were al- 
lowed to carry it to France or England. He 
sent for his physician, Garcia Fernandez, 
and also for an authority on matters mari- 
time, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and these three 
held a conference that lasted all night long 
in the great, square room that overlooks the 
Rio Tinto. 

Reader, you may see it to-day, the "Co- 
lumbus Room" of La Rabida, with its floor 
of earthen tiles and ceiling of cedar ; may sit 
at the massive table around which gathered 
those great men who were actually sponsors 
for the birth of America; for it is still intact 
in the monastery, which has been restored, 
and is preserved as a sacred relic by the 
Spanish nation. Here, in this obscure cor- 
ner of Spain, Columbus found men who could 
appreciate the magnitude of his ideas, who 
were ready to embark with him on the voy- 
age of discovery. Supported by the views 
of a scientist like Doctor Fernandez, and 
backed by the wealthy mariner and ship- 
owner Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the good prior 
hesitated no longer in sending to Isabella a 
41 



COLUMBUS 

plea for Columbus. Fourteen days later 
the messenger returned with the thanks of 
the Queen, and a request for the prior to 
honor her with his immediate presence. 
That very night Juan Perez mounted his 
mule and started for Granada, where the 
sovereigns were then encamped. His heart 
and soul were in this enterprise, and he pre- 
vailed upon Isabella to order the return of 
Columbus to her court, after an impressive 
interview, in which he won her completely 
by his eloquence. 



IV 

now COLUMBUS BECAME AN ADMIRAL 
1491 

DURING the absence of Prior Marchena, 
Columbus and his boy wandered through 
the cool corridors of the monastery, walked 
meditatively along the shore at the foot of 
the hill, or visited Palos and Moguer, where 
they found sea - folk in plenty to tell them 
of strange voyages. They were frequent 
guests of Captain Pinzon, who lived in Mo- 
guer, and whose descendants still occupy 
the ancestral residence. He promised to 
furnish a vessel, or vessels, for the voy- 
age, and to bear a portion of the expenses, 
which promise Columbus had in mind when, 
later, he made himself responsible for an 
eighth part of the expedition's cost. 

When the royal order came for Columbus 
to attend the Queen at Granada, it was ac- 
companied by a remittance of twenty thou- 
sand maravedts, or about two hundred and 
43 



COLUMBUS 

sixteen dollars, to defray the expenses of 
the journey, and for fit apparel in which to 
appear at court. The distance from La 
Rabid a is nearly two hundred miles, and, as 
there were no railroads or stage-coaches 
running in those days, Columbus purchased 
a mule, upon which he rode all the way, ar- 
riving just in time to witness the fall of 
Granada. 

The Spanish army of investment had ar- 
rived in the vega, or plain, of Granada, in 
April, 1 49 1. It was fifty thousand strong, 
and took a strategic position on the present 
site of Santa Fe, a city which was practically 
founded by the establishment of the forti- 
fied camp. There, within sight of the great 
mosque of the Moslems, in Granada, and 
within sound of the muezzin's call to prayer, 
the Spanish sovereigns had sat down before 
the last refuge of the Moors in Spain. 

In due time Colimibus arrived in camp 
and stood at the entrance to Isabella's silken 
tent. He had left her at Seville, the year 
before, disgusted and disheartened, but now 
was back again at the instance of Isabella 
herself, who had yielded to the solicitations 
of her old confessor. But, while she was 
moved by the pleadings of her former adviser 
44 



HOW COLUMBUS BECAME ADMIRAL 

in spiritual matters to the extent of inviting 
the navigator back for another conference, 
she was overborne by her new confessor, 
Talavera, Archbishop of Granada. He was 
offended by the exorbitant demands of this 
needy navigator, who had returned as per- 
sistent and as confident as ever, stipulating 
in advance for ships, caravels, sailors, muni- 
tions, and articles for barter. He would be 
made "Admiral of the Ocean Sea " and vice- 
roy over the regions he was yet to discover. 
He demanded the privilege of retaining one- 
tenth their revenues, and that he and his 
posterity should be considered among the 
aristocracy of the proudest nation on earth. 
This "castle in Spain," which he had built 
many years before and still inhabited, came 
tumbling down about his ears when Talavera 
made his report. In a word, it was similar 
to that he had made before, only in this in- 
stance he was more pronounced in his con- 
demnation of the penniless stranger who 
advanced such pretensions. He treated the 
proposition with ridicule; Isabella sadly re- 
jected the terms Columbus offered, and once 
again he departed from her presence, this 
time firmly resolved to abandon Spain for- 
ever. 

45 



COLUMBUS 

While La Rabida may be called the "cor- 
ner-stone of American history," there is a 
bridge about two leagues from Santa Fe 
which, in a sense, may be said to connect the 
New World with the Old. It is the " Bridge 
of Pines," which, with a gateway and a tur- 
ret, spans a stream on two high arches. 
This point had been reached by Columbus, 
on his return journey to La Rabida, when 
he was overtaken by a messenger from the 
Queen. She had changed her mind, he was 
informed, and this time, if he would con- 
descend to return, would consent even to the 
terms he had dictated. 

This change had been wrought, it was 
asserted, by the entreaties, even reproaches, 
of the King's receiver of the revenues in 
Aragon, Luis de San Angel, and the Queen's 
comptroller, Quintanilla, who had ever been 
friendly to Columbus. They represented 
that it was absurd to hesitate at the cost of 
an enterprise, the gain attending which 
might be incalculable, and the glory, to her 
nation and her Church, beyond all price. 
Throughout these various transactions the 
Queen has been represented, by some his- 
torians, as generous and enthusiastic; her 
husband Ferdinand, on the contrary, cold, 
46 



HOW COLUMBUS BECAME ADMIRAL 

calculating, distrustful, and opposed to all 
dealings with Columbus. At the crucial 
moment even, Isabella, in the first flush of 
her enthusiasm, is said to have exclaimed: 
" I undertake this enterprise for my own 
crown of Castile, and will pledge my jewels 
for the necessary funds." But the cold facts 
of history have long since proved that her 
jewels were already pledged, to aid in fur- 
nishing the "sinews of war" for the siege 
of Granada, and that it was Ferdinand's 
treasurer, and not Isabella's, who advanced 
the money furnished for the enterprise by 
the crown. Seventeen thousand florins were 
advanced by San Angel, on account, from 
the revenues of Aragon, and were reim- 
bursed in part by the first gold brought by 
Columbus from America. The Queen, how- 
ever, was the life of the enterprise ; upon her 
decision turned the scale which had been 
so long poised in suspense, and she ever 
after afforded her protege both pecuniary 
and moral support. 

Colimibus was dubious about returning 
to Santa Fe, even after the assurances of 
the messenger that there was no doubt of 
a full acceptance of his terms ; but he finally 
turned about, at the Bridge of Pines, and 
47 



COLUMBUS 

soon found himself in the august presence 
of the Queen, whose graciousness went far to 
atone for his years of siiifering and neglect. 
By arriving at Granada in January, 1492, 
the very month in which that city capitu- 
lated, Columbus had witnessed the surrender 
of unfortunate Boabdil, last King of the 
Moors in Spain, and was privileged to enter 
with the sovereigns the glorious Alhambra, 
that beautiful castle-palace containing the 
highest expression of Oriental art and archi- 
tecture. It was about the beginning of 
February that the Queen's messenger over- 
took him at the bridge, and on April 17th a 
formal agreement with Columbus was signed 
by Ferdinand and Isabella, in which all the 
privileges he had demanded were conceded. 
As stated in that paper: 

(i) He was appointed Admiral of the Ocean 
Sea, with the same rights, honors and favors as 
were enjoyed by the Lord Admiral of Castile. 
This ofhce to be held by himself during life, and 
by his heirs and successors forever, "in all the 
lands and continents which he might discover 
and acquire in the ocean." 

(2) He should be viceroy and governor-general 
over all the said lands and continents, with power 
to appoint all officers for their government. 

(3) He should be entitled to one -tenth of 

48 



HOW COLUMBUS BECAME ADMIRAL 

everything said lands produced, as gold, precious 
stones, spices, and of all gains from barter and trade. 
(4) That by contributing one -eighth part of 
the expenses of the expedition, he should receive 
one-eighth the profits, in addition to the tenth 
already stipulated. 

Twenty years had elapsed since he con- 
ceived the project of sailing westward in 
search of the Indies, and he was fifty-six 
years of age at the time these concessions 
were granted him by the crown; but at last 
he found himself on the road to receive his 
great reward. He had endured poverty, 
contumely, neglect, had suffered much and 
long ; but never for a moment had he abated 
his pretensions a particle. Possessed of a 
grand idea, he had remained true to it — and 
to himself. 

While the issue of the voyage was pending, 
Columbus resided awhile in the Alhambra — • 
that glorious palace above Granada built 
by the ancient Moors — where he gloomily 
paced its corridors or gazed abstractedly 
upon the entrancing views outspread before 
him from its portals. The memorable inter- 
view between him and his sovereigns, at 
which the foregoing "capitulations" were 
signed by the high contracting parties, took 
49 



COLUMBUS 

place, according to tradition, in the peerless 
"Hall of Justice," which bounds one side of 
the famous "Lions' Court," and is a dream 
of beauty. Here, also, he took leave of 
Isabella and Ferdinand, and, crowned at 
last with success, departed for the port of 
Palos, invested with the full rights and 
privileges which for years he had been so 
anxious to obtain. 

In his journal, written on the voyage, he 
says : 

"After your Highnesses had put an end to the 
war with the Moors who ruled in Europe, and had 
concluded that warfare in the great city of Gra- 
nada, on the second of January of this present 
year (1492), I saw the royal banners of your 
Highnesses placed by force of arms on the towers 
of the Alhambra, which is the fortress of that city, 
and beheld the Moorish King sally forth from the 
gates of the city and kiss the royal hands of your 
Highnesses and of my lord the Prince. ... I departed 
from the city of Granada on Saturday the twelfth 
of May, of the same year, 1492, to Palos, a seaport, 
where I armed three ships, well calculated for such 
service, and sailed from that port, well furnished 
with provisions and many seamen, on Friday the 
third of August." 

A little more than two months after King 
Boabdil had surrendered to the Spanish 
50 



HOW COLUMBUS BECAME ADMIRAL 

sovereigns, they had affixed the royal sign- 
manual to that paper confirming Columbus 
to title and interests in an undiscovered 
country beyond the unknown sea. The star 
of the hapless Moors in Spain had set for- 
ever, as that of America rose on the horizon. 
The year that witnessed the star of Spain 
in the ascendant was the birth-year of his- 
tory and civilization for our continent. On 
the banks of the river Xenil, a commemora- 
tive chapel marks the spot made famous by 
the surrender of the Moorish King, and in 
the cathedral of Granada are the alabaster 
tombs of the dread sovereigns who thrust 
him into obscurity and at the same time sent 
forth Columbus on his voyage of discovery. 
Having visited with Columbus the scenes 
identified with the dawn of discovery in 
America, let us now accompany him to Palos 
and La Rabida, whither he went about the 
middle of May, armed with royal orders and 
clothed with authority to enforce them. 
After passing the night at the monastery 
(where, we may be sure, neither he nor Fray 
Marchena spent much time in sleep, having 
so many things to talk about), he betook 
himself to the church of St. George, on 
the following morning. Here the town au- 
51 



COLUMBUS 

thorities were assembled, the alcalde and 
regidor, together with many of the chief in- 
habitants, and in their presence the royal 
orders were read. The port of Palos had 
become indebted to the crown in some man- 
ner, and was condemned to serve it for a 
year with two armed caravels. To this ex- 
tent the town was commanded to serve Co- 
lumbus instead and the debt would be con- 
sidered liquidated. Two caravels, or small 
sailing-vessels, were to be placed at his dis- 
posal within ten days, together with their 
crews, to go whither he desired. The au- 
thorities heard the mandate, and assented 
to the terms by which they were to be freed 
from their obligations; but when the people 
learned the nature of the voyage upon which 
they were called to serve by compulsion, the 
place was in an uproar instantly. 

Palos, to-day, consists of a few mean 
houses scattered along a hill-side and one 
long street which wanders aimlessly from 
nowhere to nowhere. It has a branch lead- 
ing to the Rio Tinto, where in ancient days 
there was a port, but this is only used by 
fishermen. 

But Palos, in 1492, was the residence of 
hardy mariners who had voyaged to every 
52 



HOW COLUMBUS BECAME ADMIRAL 

known part of the world. They were ready 
for any kind of sea-venture — except this one 
proposed by Columbus. Where any sailor 
had once been, there they were ready to go; 
but they were terrified at the thought of sail- 
ing on and on into the untra versed seas. 
They refused, to a man, and also their neigh- 
bors over at Moguer, so force was used — 
moral as well as physical — to compel these 
rebellious subjects of the sovereigns to sail 
with Columbus. For this reason — inasmuch 
as many of the men finally sailed in order to 
escape arrest for crimes they had committed, 
having been promised immunity by the 
King — the crews Columbus took along were 
not altogether made up of reputable citizens. 
Even these were obtained only through the 
good offices of the Pinzon brothers, the 
wealthy ship-owners of Moguer. Had it not 
been for their active co-operation, the scheme 
of Columbus might have fallen to the ground. 
They were the leading men of Moguer and 
of Palos, its port; they were rich, honorable, 
reliable, and the simple sailor-folk believed 
in them implicitly. As for Columbus, they 
looked upon him merely as a foreign ad- 
venturer who had wheedled their sovereigns 
into a chimerical expedition which was to 
s 53 



COLUMBUS 

cost them little and the chief adventurer 
nothing but his reputation. It cost him 
nothing, for he had nothing. For the 
clothes he wore, the shoes he stood in, 
Columbus was indebted to the bounty of 
the Queen. How, then, could he promise 
to furnish and equip one of the caravels and 
bear an eighth part of the expenses? Be- 
cause, in a word, he relied upon the rich and 
influential Martin Alonzo Pinzon, who nobly 
redeemed his pledge, given in their first con- 
versation at the monastery, that he would 
supply whatever was lacking in equipment. 
He and his brothers entered with enthusiasm 
into the scheme of Columbus, accepting it 
as a risky, but possibly profitable, commer- 
cial venture. They were influential in se- 
curing the vessels, prevailed upon their 
neighbors and relatives to enlist in the en- 
terprise by their own example, furnishing 
one caravel, and bearing one eighth the en- 
tire expenses. 

Three vessels were comprised in the fleet 
finally assembled at Palos, the largest of 
which was the Santa Maria^ of about one 
hundred tons burden, armed with four lom- 
bards, or small cannon, while the two smaller 
were merely great boats without decks amid- 
54 



HOW COLUMBUS BECAME ADMIRAL 

ship, but with cabins, or "castles," in the 
prow and stern. They were provisioned for 
six months, and after the stores were aboard 
there was little room to spare for the ninety- 
mariners, thirty officials and private ad- 
venturers, one hundred and twenty in all. 
Of the grand total, the Santa Maria prob- 
ably carried a complement of seventy, the 
Pinta, which was next in size, thirty, and 
the Niiia only twenty. 

In 1892, the governments of Spain and 
the United States co-operated in reproducing 
the fleet of Columbus in facsimile, and on 
October 12th, that year, the four hundredth 
anniversary of the discover)^ of land in the 
Bahamas, the three craft were gathered in 
the waters whence the originals sailed, 
August 3, 1492, There they were visited by 
thousands, including the Queen -regent of 
Spain, and in February following sailed for 
America over the historic course pursued 
by Columbus. They participated in a grand 
naval review at New York, and were after- 
wards taken to Chicago, where, anchored off- 
shore at Jackson Park, they formed an in- 
structive and interesting exhibit at the great 
World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. 



V 

THE "gap in the GLOBE " 
1492 

MORE than two months elapsed before 
the fleet furnished Columbus was pro- 
nounced ready for sea, owing to the ob- 
stacles interposed by the owners of the two 
vessels that had been impressed ; but finally 
the three craft dropped down the Tinto to 
the Domingo Rubio, at the foot of monastery 
hill, where they were careened and over- 
hauled. Here Columbus took in the last of 
his sea-stores, here the tardy mariners were 
gathered together and embarked, and here 
the sorrowing crews bade final farewell to 
their friends and relatives, whom they never 
expected to meet again on earth. 

The visitor to Palos may find still stand- 
ing there the quaint old church of St. 
George, in the porch of which the royal 
proclamation was read, and where the 
register may be seen containing the names 
56 



THE "GAP IN THE GLOBE" 

of the sailors who received communion just 
preceding their departure. This church was 
occasionally attended by Columbus while 
awaiting the outfitting of his fleet; but he 
oftener worshipped in the chapel at the 
monastery, where he passed in prayer the 
greater portion of the night before he sailed. 
At sunrise of Friday, August 3, 1492, Co- 
lumbus took his departure from the bar 
of Saltes, in the estuary between Huelva 
and La Rabida, and soon after, in the fresh- 
ening breeze of early morning, the vessels 
were wafted along their course. Steering 
southwesterly, for the Canary Islands, they 
were not long in leaving the coast of Spain 
in their wake, and then the crews gave them- 
selves up to grief and despondency. Though 
they had humbly and devoutly received the 
blessing of Fray Marchena, as he pronounced 
a benediction from the strand, those who 
had been impressed were filled with sullen 
anger, and all were gloomy from having set 
sail on a Friday. In this connection, the 
superstitiously inclined may be interested 
to note that Columbus not only sailed on 
a Friday, but he and the sovereigns signed 
their contract on Friday; he discovered land 
on Friday, set sail homeward on Friday, and 
57 



COLUMBUS 

finally reached Palos again on that same day 
of ill omen! 

Most of the men on board the fleet were 
old acquaintances and neighbors, many were 
related to one another, and Columbus himself 
was perhaps conspicuous from having no inti- 
mate friend or relative in the company. Both 
his sons had been left in Spain — Ferdinand 
with his mother, at Cordova, and Diego in 
care of the Queen, who had taken him as page 
to her son, Prince Juan. But for the fact 
that the enterprise had its birth in the brain 
of Columbus, it might well have been called 
a Pinzon expedition, for the Pinta was com- 
manded by Martin Alonzo, who had with 
him as steersman his brother Francisco, and 
the Nina by another brother, Vicente Yanez, 
who afterwards became famous on account 
of discoveries he made in America. We have 
seen what the Pinzons did in the matter of 
fitting out the fleet ; and as they were expert 
navigators, looked up to and respected by 
all, it is not strange that, in the estimation of 
the sailors, Columbus should have suffered 
by comparison. 

Still, Christopher Columbus was Admiral 
of the fleet, and all were compelled to obey 
him, even the veteran Martin Alonzo, com- 
58 



THE "GAP IN THE GLOBE" 

mander of the Pinta. He displayed his skill 
as navigator almost at the outset, when, the 
rudder of his caravel having broken loose (it 
was supposed through the connivance of the 
owners, who wished to prevent it from sail- 
ing on the voyage), he secured it temporarily 
with ropes, thus maintaining steeringway 
until the Canaries were reached. The rud- 
der became unshipped on the third day out, 
and as the islands were not sighted until the 
ninth, the other vessels were compelled to 
shorten sail in order to keep him company. 

After cruising among the Canaries for 
nearly three weeks, seeking in vain to re- 
place the Pinta with another vessel, Colum- 
bus was obliged to cause a new rudder to 
be made and shipped. At the same time 
he changed the Nina from lateen to square 
rig, so that she might sail more steadily and 
swiftly. He provisioned his ships, and took 
in wood and water at the island of Gomera, 
which lies twenty miles southwest of Tene- 
riffe, and on September 6th tried to take 
his departure. He was stimulated to sail 
at once, on account of rumors reaching him 
of Portuguese caravels hovering in the offing, 
probably for the purpose of his detention or 
capture. Three days of calm, however, held 
59 



COLUMBUS 

the impatient voyagers within sight of land, 
and it was not until sunset of the 9th that 
the last outpost of the Canaries, diminutive 
Ferro, sank, as it were, beneath the surface 
of the ocean. 

And now, having seen Columbus and his 
little company of timorous seamen actually 
ventured on the Sea of Darkness, shall we 
not improve the occasion, while they are 
eventlessly voyaging, to obtain a closer ac- 
quaintance with the Admiral, as he stands 
on the castle of his flag-ship, the Santa 
Mariaf The man himself should be inter- 
esting, as well as his aims and his equipment 
for the great adventure. As to his personal 
appearance, wrote Las Casas, who knew him 
well and intimately, " he was tall, rather than 
medium-sized. His face was long and com- 
manding, his nose aquiline, eyes light (bluish 
gray), and complexion fair, tending to ruddy. 
The beard and hair, when he was a young 
man, were fair, but very soon turned white 
on account of his many toils. Finally, in 
his person and venerable aspect, he presented 
the appearance of one of high position and 
authority, worthy of all reverence." Oviedo, 
the historian, who also knew him, and 
Ferdinand Columbus, his son, give descrip- 
60 



THE "GAP IN THE GLOBE" 

tions agreeing with Las Casas's in the main, 
so that we shall have a very fair conception 
of his looks from these verbal portraits, even 
though it cannot be affirmed that any au- 
thentic picture of him exists that was painted 
from life. 

We know (for the matter has been thrash- 
ed out a thousand times) that Columbus 
started out with the preconceived idea of 
a "terraqueous globe," which might be 
traversed from east to west, and that there 
were antipodes. Improving somewhat upon 
the chart that Paolo Toscanelli had sent him, 
he yet made the distance separating the 
great continents much less than it really 
was, and herein lay an error fortunate for 
himself and for the world. He assumed 
that the circumference of the globe at the 
equator might be divided into three hundred 
and sixty degrees, or twenty- foiu* hours of 
fifteen degrees each. Two - thirds of these 
"hours" were already comprised in the 
world then known, leaving (as he reasoned) 
only eight hours, or one-third the distance 
round the world, to be traversed. Tos- 
canelli 's map represented the earth much 
smaller than it really was, and carried the 
east coast of Asia so far over towards the 
6i 



COLUMBUS 

west coast of Africa that the intervening 
ocean seemed very easy to cross. Scattered 
over its surface, also, were islands con- 
veniently placed for tarrying - places, such 
as Antilla and Cipango. Columbus was con- 
stantly looking for these islands, and through- 
out his voyages confidently expected to find 
the "Grapd Khan" of Cathay, to whom he 
carried a letter from Ferdinand and Isabella, 
as follows: 

"The Spanish sovereigns have heard that you 
and your subjects have great affection for them 
and for Spain. They are further aware that you 
and your subjects are desirous of information re- 
specting Spain. They, therefore, cordially send 
their Grand Admiral, Christopher Columbus, who 
will tell you that they are in good health and 
perfect prosperity. " I, the King. 

" I, the Queen." 

That letter was never delivered, and the 
Grand Khan was never discovered, though 
Columbus sought for him in every island he 
visited. Neither did he find Cipango (which 
is supposed to have been Japan, while Cathay 
was meant for China), for a continent and 
another ocean intervened between him and 
the lands of which he had dreamed so many, 
many years. 

62 



THE "GAP IN THE GLOBE" 

There are many memorials of Columbus 
in Spain, including the places we have men- 
tioned ; his armor is in the royal armory, and 
one of his charts in the naval museum of 
Madrid; but the most interesting relics are 
to be found at Seville. In that city is the 
Columbian library of twenty thousand vol- 
umes, bequeathed by Ferdinand Columbus, in 
which are several books that once belonged 
to the Admiral, some with marginal notes 
in his own hand. Could we but have peeped 
into the diminutive cabin of the Santa Maria, 
we should probably have found some of 
these same books in the little library Co- 
lumbus carried with him on that first voy- 
age across the Atlantic. His favorite vol- 
ume seems to have been Marco Polo's book 
of adventures, published in Latin, at Ant- 
werp, 1485, for it has many marginal notes 
made by him, as also has another volume, 
the Theologia, published in Venice, 1489. 
A Latin edition of Ptolemy's geography, 
edition of 1475 (which contains a map of 
Greenland) was well thumbed by Columbus ; 
and another book, called the Imago Mundi, 
or Image of- the World, was taken with him 
on the first voyage and richly adorned with 
notes in the margins. Further, a volume 
63 



COLUMBUS 

which furnished him plausible arguments to 
sustain his theory of a western passage to 
the Indies is the Historia Rerum Ubique Ges- 
tarum, which contains on a fly-leaf his own 
transcription of the letter he received from 
Paolo Toscanelli in 1474. 

These books alone constitute a very good 
library for a mariner of that period, four 
hundred years ago, and that they were ear- 
nestly studied and thoroughly digested is 
shown by the notes we have referred to. 
They absorbed his waking hours, when he 
was not on deck scanning the horizon for 
signs of something to vary the monotony 
of the boundless sea. 

Besides his books, the Admiral carried, of 
course, the crude nautical instruments of his 
time, a compass and an astrolabe, by which 
he determined his latitude; but he could 
only guess at his longitude, and he meas- 
ured time by an hour-glass. "It has been 
said that he probably had no means for ac- 
curately calculating the speed of his vessels, 
as there is no mention of the log -and -line 
before 15 19; and as to the telescope, it was 
first used nearly a century later. Having 
such a slight equipment, the sailors of that 
day of course were very timid about vent- 
64 



THE "GAP IN THE GLOBE" 

uring far from land." This will account 
for their terror at finding themselves for the 
first time sailing into the immensity of 
watery space, until then never cleft by keel 
of any kind. In order to keep his men in 
ignorance of the distance run each day, the 
crafty yet simple Columbus made two reck- 
onings, one of which, the longer, he kept 
secret, while the shorter alone was open to 
inspection by the crews. This silly strata- 
gem deceived none but the simplest of the 
sailors, and did not prevent them from 
breaking out into frequent lamentations 
over the constantly increasing distance that 
separated them from home, from friends, 
and native land. 

"The task that Columbus set himself, and 
which he was now carrying out, was sim- 
ply to go to the Canary Islands, in about 
latitude 28° north, and sail due west un- 
til he struck land." Towards the last of 
the voyage he was diverted from his course 
somewhat by taking the advice of his pilots, 
and by the flights of birds to the south- 
ward, else he might have landed on the coast 
of our own Florida, not far south of St. 
Augustine, and thus have anticipated its 
discovery by Ponce de Leon twenty years. 
65 



COLUMBUS 

It seems a simple thing, to sail westward 
merely, day after day, and now that the 
voyage has been a thousand times accom- 
plished, the wonder is, not that Columbus 
ventured it, but that it had not been done 
centuries before. " But," said a noted writer, 
"when I think of Columbus in his little bark, 
his only instruments an imperfect compass 
and a rude astrolabe, sailing forth upon an 
unknown sea, I must award him the credit 
of being the boldest seaman that ever sailed 
the salt ocean!" It was an easy thing to 
do after one had shown the way, as Colum- 
bus proved to the courtier when he stood 
the egg on end. 

After many days sailing, always with a 
fair wind after them, and no opposing gales 
or currents, the crews began to think it would 
not be so easy to get back again, up the in- 
cline of that "watery hill." Having seen a 
floating spar or mast, the relic of some wrecked 
vessel, after land had been lost to sight two 
days, their fears were greatly excited, and 
they were thrown into a panic, by the varia- 
tion of the compass. This was the first of 
the discoveries Columbus made before he 
discovered land, and it disturbed him great- 
ly to find, when about eight hundred miles 
66 



THE "GAP IN THE GLOBE" 

from Ferro, that the needle no longer pointed 
directly to the north star. He tried to keep 
this discovery to himself, but the pilots soon 
noticed it, and he was forced to invent an 
explanation. It was a plausible and at the 
same time nearly accurate one; for Colum- 
bus was learned in nautical astronomy, and 
a little ahead of his companions, who 
soothed themselves with his theory, but 
again became agitated over the prevalence 
of the winds from one point of the com- 
pass. This has been called the second pre- 
liminary discovery of Columbus (though 
it was the third) : that of the trade - winds, 
steadily blowing from the east and north- 
east, and which increased the farther the 
vessels went to the westward and south- 
ward. 

Excepting for the slight accident to the 
Pinta, the entire voyage seems to have been 
a combination of fortunate and favorable 
events. From the time land was lost sight 
of at Ferro, until land was discovered in the 
Bahamas, nature interposed no obstacle to 
baffle the plans of Columbus, and he had 
only his wretched and timorous crews to 
deal with. They were enough, it is true, 
to tax the resources of a mind more active 
67 



COLUMBUS 

than that of Columbus and incense a nature 
far nobler ; but he bore with them patiently, 
in his heart believing they were assisting 
him to achieve immortal fame. His nature, 
like his ideals, was lofty; but his temper 
was by no means of the best, and some- 
times burst forth explosively. Not often, 
though, and not on that first voyage, for 
he was supported then by his trust in 
a favorable outcome for his hazardous 
venture. 

During the first four weeks at sea there 
were absolutely no tokens of land save a few 
birds. On vSeptember 14th some of the 
sailors saw a tropic bird (which flies swift- 
ly and far out at sea), and on the 20th 
they were cheered by the arrival in the rig- 
ging of their ships of some singing - birds, 
which they welcomed as sure tokens that 
land was near. These small birds, however, 
were probably migrant warblers which, as 
we of this later day know well, are capable 
of performing long journeys on the wing, 
and which are sometimes blown hundreds of 
miles from land. 

On, on they went, scarcely shifting sail in 
weeks, the very steadiness of the wind and 
the tranquillity of the sea causing perturba- 
68 



THE "GAP IN THE GLOBE" 

tion in their bosoms, and thus voyaging they 
sailed into their third discovery, the sluggish 
waters of the great Sargasso Sea, with its 
weed-strewn expanse in the vortex of varia- 
ble winds. 



VI 

WHERE IS SAN SALVADOR? 
1492 

ANY one who has had the misfortune 
lY to be caught on board a sailing-ship in 
the so-called "horse latitudes" of the North 
Atlantic can understand the dismay and 
perplexity of the first sailors who entered 
that region of calms and baffling winds. As 
it very nearly coincided with the Sargasso, 
or (speaking literally) the Ocean of Sea- 
grapes, in which their course was impeded 
by the vast beds of weeds torn from the 
bottom of the sea, they imagined the water 
must be shallow and reef-strewn. Colum- 
bus dispelled this illusion by sounding with 
a deep-sea line, and, finding no bottom, was 
somewhat surprised, for he had imagined 
they might be sailing over the vestiges of 
the "lost Atlantis," which, according to his 
chart, should have been in that region. 
The matted masses of sea - weed were so 
70 



WHERE IS SAN SALVADOR? 

dense that the caravels were held almost im- 
movable at times, and then the crews con- 
jured up the spectre of perpetual imprison- 
ment there, and again gave way to their 
dismal fears. As for several days the little 
wind that blew came from the westward, 
they insisted that this was their opportunity 
for standing about for Spain and home; for 
they surely had complied with every obliga- 
tion, and could not be expected to sail on 
westward forever! They never came to 
open mutiny, as some historians have stated, 
but they reached a point most dangerously 
near it. The Admiral used every sort of 
argument he could summon to his aid, en- 
treating some, appealing to the pride of 
others, and to the avarice of all. But he 
ever remained serene, inflexible, unmoved 
by argument or entreaty. It might be, as 
they urged, that their provisions, water, and 
wine, would soon become exhausted, and 
they would starve or perish of thirst; but 
westward they would continue to sail until 
land was discovered and the object of the 
voyage accomplished. 

Throughout his trials at sea, Columbus 
was supported by the Pinzons, with whom 
he was in almost daily converse, the seas 
7i 



COLUMBUS 

were so calm and the breezes so light. They 
interchanged observations on the weather, 
their latitude and longitude, and every 
phenomenon they had observed. One day, 
September 25th, they brought their vessels 
near together and a chart was thrown from 
the Pinta to the Santa Maria, in order that 
Columbus might verify the surmise of Mar- 
tin Alonzo that they were in the vicinity 
of Cipango. While he and his chief pilot 
were poring over the chart, they heard a 
glad cry from the Pinta: " Tierra oho I (land 
in sight !) " and, looking in the direction point- 
ed out by Captain Pinzon, saw in the dis- 
tance what seemed, indeed, to be the object 
of their search. That was in the evening- 
time, however, and by morning the sup- 
posed "land" had dissolved into a cloud- 
bank and vanished. Columbus felt so cer- 
tain that it was Cipango which had loomed 
upon the horizon that he gave thanks to 
the Almighty, while Martin Alonzo and his 
crew chanted the hymn beginning, "Glory 
be to God on high." 

This apparition having appeared in the 

southwest, the course of the vessels was 

shaped in that direction during the night, 

but changed again to westerly, after its true 

72 



WHERE IS SAN SALVADOR? 

nature was revealed. They stood on this 
course nearly two weeks more, but on Octo- 
ber 7th, after having been a month at sea, it 
was altered to west-southwest. Increasing 
signs of land were seen during the three days 
following, such as floating herbage, birds in 
full song, a green rock-fish, and a branch of 
thorn-bush with red berries on it. This last 
was an indubitable token of land's vicinity, 
another, absolutely unmistakable, being a 
piece of wood, a cane or staff, artificially 
carved, which was picked up as it drifted 
past a caravel. 

Even the most despondent felt they were 
on the verge of a great discovery. Some 
great event was pending, all were sure, and 
on the night of October nth very few, if 
any, of the crew closed their eyes in sleep. 
They were stimulated to wakefulness and 
watchfulness by a reward Columbus offered, 
in addition to the pension promised by the 
sovereigns, to him who should first discover 
land. The Admiral himself was the first to 
claim the pension, and obtain it, for that 
night, as he was keeping his customary vigil 
on the high castle of his ship, he observed a 
light gleam on the dim horizon. Fearful 
lest he might be the victim of deception, he 
73 



COLUMBUS 

called a royal official, one Pedro Gutierrez, 
who also saw the light wavering above the 
waters, as if a torch borne by some one on 
shore, or in a canoe tossed by the waves. 
Another official was called, but by the time 
he had reached the post of observation the 
light had disappeared. It was seen no more ; 
but about four hours later, or at two hours 
after midnight on the morning of the 12th, 
a gun boomed forth from the Pinta. As the 
fastest vessel of the fleet, she had forged ahead 
of the flag-ship, and one of her crew, a com- 
mon sailor named Rodrigo de Triana, being on 
watch, was the favored one to first see land. 
We cannot refrain in passing from pausing 
a moment in our narrative to make mention 
of the fact that, although Rodrigo was ad- 
mittedly the very first to view the prom- 
ised land, afterwards known as America, he 
reaped no advantage from it, as the reward 
was given to Columbus, on account of the 
light he claimed to have seen in the night. 
Poor Rodrigo felt himself cheated, mistreated 
and when, after the arrival in Spain on the 
return voyage, Columbus was not only award- 
ed the pension, but took it, he renounced his 
religion, went over to Africa, and became a 
Mohammedan. 

74 



WHERE IS SAN SALVADOR? 

For the time being, however, Rodrigo de 
Triana was the hero of the hour, and di- 
vided with the Admiral the honors of dis- 
covery. He then sank out of sight, only to 
reappear as an apostate, self-expatriated on 
account of an unworthy act of his com- 
mander. 

As morning dawned, on Friday, October 
12, 1492, the cry, " Tterra oho!" was fully 
verified. There it lay, a fair stretch of glis- 
tening sands, with verdurous background, 
and white-fanged coral reefs dividing the 
intervening sea. Any land is welcome and 
attractive to a seafarer after long voyag- 
ing, and the picture presented to the eyes of 
those Spanish sailors that morning, though 
not strikingly beautiful, was most pleasing. 
It is doubtful, however, if Columbus cared 
whether the landscape were pleasing or 
otherwise, so absorbed was he in speculation 
as to what the land contained. Was he to 
behold fair temples and great palaces, popu- 
lous cities and teeming marts of commerce? 
Would he, straightway, present his creden- 
tials to the Grand Khan, and be received at 
court w4th all the honors due him as the dis- 
coverer of a new route from Europe to the 
Indies? Slowly passed the hours between 
75 



COLUMBUS 

the moment of discovery and dawn, while 
the little craft, having reefed their sails and 
cast anchor, rolled lazily on the surface of 
the seas that came in from the ocean and 
sprayed the coral reefs with foam. 

The eminently good-fortune that had at- 
tended the yoyage hitherto stood by Colum- 
bus to the last, for, if he had known the 
coast and chosen his landfall, he could not 
have found a spot better favored than this. 
The island (as it afterwards proved to be) 
was reef -surrounded, but with openings af- 
fording passages for boats, while the barriers 
erected by the coral insects broke the force 
of the waves that came thundering in from 
the Atlantic, so that the waters within were 
as smooth as a pond. 

Many descriptions have been written of 
this first landing in America, but none has 
been given clearer than that of Columbus 
himself, and this shall be our excuse for 
quoting it, as transcribed by Las Casas from 
the famous Diary of Colon, which was re- 
discovered in Spain in 1825: "Two hours 
after midnight the land appeared, about two 
leagues off. They lowered all the sails and 
lay to until morning, when they saw a small 
island of the Lucayos, called Guanahani by 
76 



WHERE IS SAN SALVADOR? 

the natives. They soon saw people naked, 
and the Admiral went on shore in the armed 
boat, also Martin Alonzo and Vicente Yanez 
Pinzon, commanders of the Pinta and the 
Nina. The Admiral took the royal stand- 
ard, and the two captains the two banners 
of the green cross, having an ' F ' and a ' Y ' 
[for Ferdinand and Ysabella] at each arm 
of said cross, surmounted by a crown. As 
soon as they landed, they saw trees of a 
brilliant green, abundance of water, and 
fruits of various kinds. The Admiral called 
the two captains and the rest, as well as the 
notary of the fleet, to certify that he, in the 
presence of them all, took possession of said 
island for the King and Queen, his sovereigns. 
Soon after large crowds of natives congre- 
gated there ; and what follows is in the Ad- 
miral's own words, in his book on the first 
voyage and discovery of these Indies. 'I 
presented some of these people with red 
caps, strings of beads, and other trifles, by 
which we have got a wonderful hold on 
their 'affections. They afterwards came to 
the vessels, swimming, bringing us parrots, 
cotton thread in balls, and such things, which 
they bartered for glass beads and cascabels. 
All of them go as naked as they came into 
77 



COLUMBUS 

the world; their forms are graceful; their 
features good ; their hair as coarse as a horse's 
tail, cut short in front and worn long upon 
their shoulders. They are dark of com- 
plexion, like the Canary- 1 slanders, and paint 
themselves in various colors. They do not 
carry arms, and have no knowledge of them, 
for when I showed them our swords they 
took them by the edges, and through their 
ignorance cut themselves. Neither have 
they any iron, their spears consisting of 
staffs tipped with stone and dog-fish teeth. 
... I swear to your Majesties, there are no 
better people on earth; they are gentle, 
without knowing what evil is, neither kill- 
ing nor stealing. ... At dawn of Saturday, 
October 13th, many of the men came out to 
the ships in canoas [canoes, then for the first 
time seen by Spaniards] made out of the 
trunks of trees, each of one piece, and won- 
derfully built, some containing forty men 
and others but a single one. They paddle 
with a peel like that of a baker, and make 
great speed, and if a canoe capsizes all swim 
about and bail out the water with calabashes. 
I examined them closely to see if there was 
any gold, noticing that some of them wore 
small pieces in their noses, and by signs I 
78 



WHERE IS SAN SALVADOR? 

was able to understand that by going around 
the island to the southward, I would find a 
king who had large golden vessels, and also 
gold in great abundance.'" 

These are the words of Columbus him- 
self, and is it not more interesting to receive 
his own impressions at first hand, rather 
than through transcribers who are separated 
from him by centuries of time? Writing at 
evening time of the second day, probably 
sitting encastled in the Santa Maria, with 
the fair prospect spread before him of shin- 
ing sea and verdure-clad island, he says: 
"At this moment it is dark, and all have 
gone ashore in their canoes. I have deter- 
mined to lose no time, . , . but to wait till 
to-morrow evening, and then sail for the 
southwest, ... to try if I can find the island 
of Cipango." 

Columbus could not understand — in fact, he 
was long in learning — that he had discovered, 
not the confines of the Indies, but an en- 
tirely new world. He was on the eastern 
coast of the Indies (thus he reasoned), and 
so, of course, the natives must be Indians — 
by which name he called them; and "Ind- 
ians" they have ever since remained. They 
and their canoes were two more discoveries 
79 



COLUMBUS 

to be added to those already mentioned, and 
many more were yet to come. 

The relation between the Spaniards and 
the first red folks they found in that isl- 
and called Guanahani, was all that could 
be desired ; but those who followed after the 
discoverers were not so humane. Twenty 
years later Spaniards from Haiti hunted 
them down with blood-hounds, and within 
fifty years they had ceased to exist. What 
we know of them is derived from the de- 
scriptions of Columbus and from the few 
remains they have left, such as the "celts," 
or stone implements: arrow and spear heads, 
war-clubs and knives, which are occasional- 
ly found in caves and clefts of the rocks. 

The natives of the island have disappeared, 
and regarding the island itself, that first land 
discovered by Columbus in the New World, 
the same doubt exists that enshrouds his 
birthplace and his early life. That is, no 
one may positively assert that he can iden- 
tify the Admiral's "landfall," or the coast 
he sighted, on that memorable October morn 
in 1492. "To the first island I found," he 
wrote in his journal, " I gave the name of 
San Salvador (or Saint Saviour), in remem- 
brance of his High Majesty, who hath mar- 
80 



WHERE IS SAN SALVADOR? 

vellously brought all these things to pass; 
the Indians call it Guanahani.'' But where 
that island lies, and just where Columbus 
landed, are matters of dispute to-day. Many 
enthusiastic investigators have tried to 
trace the voyagings of the Admiral, follow- 
ing after him with chart and compass; but 
whether he first landed on Cat Island, on 
Watling's, or on Eleuthera, the only thing 
we can affirm is that the island lies some- 
where mid-chain of the Bahamas. 

So here is a matter left over for the young 
explorers of the present or a coming genera- 
tion; and perhaps there may be a reader of 
these lines who will earn the honor of redis- 
covering the "landfall" of Columbus! For 
his guidance, let us quote the words of Co- 
lumbus: "This island is level, has a large 
lagoon in the middle, is without any moun- 
tains, and is covered with verdure most pleas- 
ing to the eye." This description applies 
very well to the island now known as Wat- 
ling's, which lies in latitude 24° north, 
and, so far as it refers to the vegetation, 
might answer for any of the Bahamas, 
for it is tropical, or semitropical, through- 
out the chain. When Columbus landed 
there, doubtless, the present "scrubby" 
81 



COLUMBUS 

growth was overtopped by gigantic palms, 
which waved their golden fronds above the 
native huts formed of their leaves. Here 
dwelled those happy, simple people, in prim- 
itive state, but perfectly contented. The 
Spaniard came, and the red folks' Eden was 
transformed into an inferno. 

On Sunday, October 14th, Columbus 
wrote in his diary: "At dawn I ordered the 
boats of the ship and of the caravels to be 
got ready, and went along the island. I 
was afraid of a reef of rocks which entirely 
surrounds it, although there is within it 
depth and ample harbor for all the vessels 
of Christendom; but the entrance is very 
narrow. ... I observed all that harbor, and 
afterwards I returned to the ship and set 
sail, and saw so many islands that I could 
not decide which one to visit first. ... In 
consequence, I looked for the largest one, 
and determined to make for it, and am so 
doing, and it is probably five leagues dis- 
tant from this of San vSalvador, the others, 
some more, some less." 

He reached that island and then sailed 

to another, of which he says : " If the other 

islands are beautiful, this is still more so, it 

has so many trees, very green and very 

83 



WHERE IS SAN SALVADOR? 

large, while gentle hills enhance with their 
contrasts the beauty of the plains. I an- 
chored here because I saw this cape so green 
and beautiful, as are all the things and lands 
of these islands, so that I know not which 
to go to first ; nor do my eyes grow tired with 
looking at such beautiful verdure, so different 
from our own. The grass is as green as in 
Andalusia in April, and the songs of the lit- 
tle birds are such that it seems as one could 
never leave here at all," 



VII 

CUBA AND THE MYTHICAL CIPANGO 
1492 

THE "cape beautiful," of which Colum- 
bus was so enamored, is supposed to 
have been the north point of Crooked Island, 
and the place where he filled his water-casks 
was "Frenchman's Wells," not far away, on 
Isle of Fortune. Here the Spaniards first 
saw and killed an " ugly serpent," later called 
by them the iguana, the flesh of which was 
highly esteemed by the natives as food. 
Flocks of parrots flew screaming across the 
sky, the songs of mocking-birds filled the 
air, and so entranced was the Admiral — with 
fair islands beckoning him on every side — 
that he knew not which way to steer. At 
last, on October 24th, he wrote in his journal: 
" I weighed anchor at midnight and de- 
parted from Isabella and the cape of the 
rocky islet [thought to be Bird Rock, near 
Crooked Island], in order to go to the island 
84 



CUBA AND THE MYTHICAL CIPANGO 

of Cuba, which these people tell me is very- 
large, yielding gold and spices. By their 
signs I understand it to be the island of 
Cipango, of which marvellous things are re- 
lated [by Marco Polo], and which, on the 
maps I have seen, is in this region. And 
they told me I should sail to reach it west- 
southwest, as now I am sailing." 

The large and beautiful island of Cuba 
was the fifth at which he arrived, after sail- 
ing across a shallow sea teeming with tropi- 
cal fishes, and so clear that the tinted shells 
could be seen on the ocean bed many fathoms 
down. The fourth day from Isabella, or on 
October 28th, appeared the tops of misty 
mountains, then the contours of hills, and 
purple depths of fertile valleys, lighted by 
the flash of foaming waterfall or sparkle of 
hurrying stream. So impressed was Colum- 
bus by the grandeur of the scenery, the mag- 
nitude of the mountains, the vastness of the 
forests, that he felt sure he had reached, at 
last, the Asian continent. Indeed, he says 
as much in the letter he wrote to San Angel 
while on the voyage: "When I arrived at 
Juana [as he had renamed Cuba] I followed 
the coast to the westward, and found it so 
extensive that I considered it must be a 
' 85 



COLUMBUS 

continent and a province of Cathay. After 
having continued many leagues, without 
finding signs of towns or cities and seeing 
that the coast took me northward, where I 
did not wish to go, as winter was already set 
in, I considered it best to follow it to the 
south, and therefore returned to a certain 
port, from whence I sent two messengers 
into the country, to ascertain whether there 
was any king there or any large city." 

This reference is to the famous embassy 
sent by Columbus to the fugitive Grand 
Khan, which consisted of two Spaniards, one 
of whom was a converted Jew who spoke 
Castilian, Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic. 
In one of these tongues, it was believed, it 
would be possible to converse with the 
Grand Khan, and so, while the fleet was 
anchored in the beautiful River of Palms, 
two Spaniards, together with an Indian of 
San Salvador and another of Cuba, were sent 
in search of the Oriental potentate. They 
had authority to speak in the name of the 
Spanish sovereigns, whose letter Columbus 
bore to the Grand Khan, and were given six 
days for the journey, going and returning. 

Cuba - nacdn, the Grand Khan's golden 
province, was said to be but a few days' 
86 



CUBA AND THE MYTHICAL CIPANGO 

travel inland from the coast, and the mes- 
sengers found it, after penetrating vast for- 
ests, crossing rapid rivers, and climbing 
mountains. They found it; but, alas! there 
was nothing grand or golden about it, for 
the vaunted city, when finally seen by the 
embassy, had dwindled to a straggling col- 
lection of palm-thatched huts! As for the 
"Grand Khan," he could hardly be dis- 
tinguished from his associates, who were 
naked, like himself, though he bore the title 
of cacique, or chief. He was so simple and 
ignorant, indeed, that, in common with the 
natives of the Bahamas, he regarded the 
Spaniards as heaven-descended men. " Come 
and see these people from the skies," he 
said to his subjects, and so they gathered 
about, to the number of a thousand or more, 
and, squatting on their hams, like so many 
human frogs, formed a great circle around 
their celestial visitors, whom they regarded 
with awe and admiration. 

Then and there was exploded the theory 
of a Grand Khan in Cuba, of a gold-roofed 
city, and a land of drugs and spices. But 
the embassy found several things of value 
and interest on that first expedition to the 
interior of Cuba, such, for example, as maize, 
87 



COLUMBUS 

or Indian corn, tobacco, cotton hammocks, 
perhaps the potato, wild peppers, and the 
manioc. While crossing the channel be- 
tween the Bahamas and Cuba, Columbus 
had encountered an old Indian in a canoe, 
who had "rolls of dried herbs," which may- 
have been either tobacco or cascarilla; but 
it is certain that tobacco was found by him 
in Cuba in use by the natives. The Cubans 
also possessed the aboriginal art of making 
fire by friction, as an old historian says: 
"Each Indian carried a firebrand in his 
hand at night, with which to light a fire, 
and the fire was easily kindled, because they 
had a sort of wood which, if they worked 
one piece against another, as if they had 
been boring a hole, it took fire." 

Until his arrival at the River of Palms, 
and the return of his embassy, Columbus 
had supported himself in the belief that 
these barbarians whom he found existing 
in such primitive state, without society, 
form of government, money, arts, or manu- 
factures of any kind, were merely the veriest 
sentinels on the outposts of an opulent 
civilization, which he hoped to discover 
farther on. But, as day after day and 
week after week went by, disclosing no evi- 
88 



CUBA AND THE MYTHICAL CIPANGO 

dences of that hoped-for civilization, but 
onl}^ the same kinds of natives, existing in 
the same simple manner, he began to lose 
faith in his theories. His great and domi- 
nant idea, that by sailing westward he should 
disclose a continent, or at least the outlying 
islands of one, had been triumphantly vin- 
dicated. That thought sustained him, as 
he voyaged from island to island, and found 
living in every one the most barbaric of 
peoples. Still he did not discard the theory 
that he was on the way to the Grand Khan's 
dominions, but merely laid it aside for a 
while, as we shall see further on in our 
narrative. 

The first landing-place of Columbus in 
Cuba, like his first landfall in the Bahamas, 
is even now a matter of dispute. While 
his great biographer, Irving, lands the Ad- 
miral so far to the west on the Cuban coast 
as Nue vitas, it is more probable that he first 
struck soil at or about the port of Gibara, 
the relative position of which to the islands 
of the mid -Bahamas is such that it would 
be quite likely to receive his caravels as he 
came down from the northeast. There are, 
also, back of this port, four great table- 
topped hills, the peculiar outlines of which 
89 



COLUMBUS 

make them conspicuous landmarks, said to 
have attracted the attention of Columbus 
on his approach, as stated in his journal. 
But, if doubt exist as to the exact site of his 
first landfall here, there is none respecting 
the harbor he had in mind when he wrote 
of that which he called Puerto Santo and 
its forest-born river: "The clearness of its 
water, through which the sand at the bottom 
may be seen ; the multitude of palm-trees of 
various forms, the highest and most beau- 
tiful I have met with, and an infinity of 
other great, green trees; the birds in rich 
plumage, and the verdure of the fields, render 
this country of such marvellous beauty 
that it surpasses all others in charms and 
graces, as the day doth the night in lustre! 
For which reason I often say to my people 
that, much as I endeavor to give a complete 
account of it to your Majesties, my tongue 
cannot express the whole truth, nor my pen 
describe it. In sooth, I have been so over- 
whelmed at the sight of so much beauty that 
I have not known how to relate it." 

The river and port referred to are found 

in Baracoa, around which spreads a vast and 

verdurous forest, apparently as fresh and 

virginal to-day as when it inspired the Ad- 

90 



CUBA AND THE MYTHICAL CIPANGO 

miral to write in such enthusiastic terms. 
"Proceeding farther up the river," says the 
historian Herrera, "being allured by the 
clearness of the water, the delightsomeness 
of the banks, and the great variety of the 
birds, they saw a great canoe under a sort 
of arbor, capable of carrying fifty persons, 
yet made of one entire tree [probably a 
ceiba, or silk-cotton] ; for, while the Indians 
had no iron tools, their instruments being 
merely flints, and the trees were large, their 
hearts were soft and spongy and easily 
hollowed out." 

The most impressive object here, a land- 
mark mentioned by Columbus in his writ- 
ings, is the table -topped mountain known 
as Yitnque, or the Anvil, from its peculiar 
shape. It is eighteen hundred feet in height 
and visible forty miles at sea, so it attracted 
the attention of the voyagers to the beauti- 
ful river, in which their vessels lay at anchor 
while the embassy went into the tropical 
wilderness, looking for the Khan of Cathay. 
Yunque Mountain has always been held 
sacred by the Indians, who had a tradition 
that when the morning sun sends its rays 
against its eastern cliffs the features of a 
once-great cacique are limned upon the rocks. 
91 



COLUMBUS 

The Indians of Cuba, like those of the Ba- 
hamas, became extinct three centuries ago, 
and only their traditions and a few aborig- 
inal names remain to remind us of their 
former presence in the island. 

More than a month was passed on the 
north coast of Cuba, exploring inlets and 
rivers, collecting specimens of dye and cabi- 
net woods, spices, herbs, and the golden 
grains of maize, said to have been the first 
ever seen by white men and taken to Eu- 
rope. Columbus lingered longer than he 
thought prudent, even, he was so enraptured 
with the spicy groves and flowery meads, the 
sparkling beaches and the sombre forests; 
above all, the delightsome climate. He calls 
it the "most beautiful island that eyes ever 
beheld," and declares that "one could live 
there forever." 

It must have been an exceptional season 
in which those first explorers in the West 
Indies performed their voyage, for, not only 
had they been able to keep their vessels to- 
gether all the way across the Atlantic, 
through the smoothness of the seas, but they 
experienced no gale or tempest among the 
islands, though they were there in the height 
of the "hurricane season." That first voy- 
92 



CUBA AND THE MYTHICAL CIPANGO 

age was exempt from every untoward, hap- 
pening due to wind and weather; but about 
November 20th the vessels became separated 
through the voluntary act of Martin Alonzo 
Pinzon, who stood away in the Pinta, while 
they were attempting to round the eastern 
end of Cuba. His was the fastest vessel of 
the little fleet, and though Columbus sig- 
nalled him repeatedly to heave to and await 
the rest, Captain Pinzon kept on until dis- 
tance and darkness hid him from the rest. 
Baffling winds compelled the Santa Maria 
and the Nina to put in at a small river east 
of Baracoa, and it was not until December 
5th that they succeeded in doubling Cape 
Maisi, the eastern point of Cuba, which Co- 
lumbus supposed to be the extremity of Asia, 
and named Alpha and Omega. Instead of 
keeping on to the southward and westward, 
however, and in that direction seeking — 
what he yet confidently expected to find — 
the rich and civilized parts of India, the 
Admiral bore away to the southward and 
eastward. He was perplexed at first which 
course to pursue, but the act of his recreant 
captain decided him to keep on in the di- 
rection he had taken. Both Columbus and 
Pinzon were impelled to this course by the 
93 



COLUMBUS 

same motive, which was to seek, and if pos- 
sible find, the island of Babeque, or Bohio, 
the reputed land of gold. No precious metal 
had been found in the scant soil of the 
Bahamas; while Cuba, though reported rich 
in mines of gold and copper (in the sign- 
language of the natives), had yielded noth- 
ing to the Spaniards' eager search. But, 
repeatedly and consistently, the Lucayans 
and Cubans had pointed to the southeast, 
when asked to name the land containing gold. 
There, in Babeque, they said, it was to be 
found in quantities so great that one might 
pick it up on the shores and glean it from 
the sands of every stream. Thence came 
the small supply possessed by the natives 
of the Bahamas and Cuba at the coming of 
Columbus, which he had secured in barter 
for a few beads and trinkets. He and Cap- 
tain Pinzon had talked it over frequently, 
questioning the Indians they met on shore 
and those they had taken aboard ship as 
captives, and had come to the same con- 
clusion : Babeque was the island of gold, and 
as gold was what they desired above all 
other things, they should seek that island 
without delay. It is supposed that Captain 
Pinzon may have derived secret information 
94 



CUBA AND THE MYTHICAL CIPANGO 

as to the location of Babeque, from one of 
his captives; hence his haste to sail easterly, 
in the general direction indicated. Hence, 
also, the consuming desire of his superior 
officer, Columbus, to follow in his wake: 
from fear that Pinzon might glean it all in 
advance of his arrival. 

Taking his departure, then, from the east- 
erly point of Cuba (which still retains its 
aboriginal name of Maysi), the Admiral 
soon saw another island rise to view, more 
beautiful in its contours, and grander in its 
mountains than the one he left. It was 
clothed in tropical vegetation from coast to 
mountain peak, and seemed suspended in a 
magical atmosphere between sea and sky. 
"It is a wonderful island," wrote Columbus 
to his friend, San Angel, "with mountains, 
groves, plains, and the country generally 
beautiful and rich for planting, for rearing 
sheep and cattle of all kinds, and ready for 
tov^^'ns and cities. The harbors must be seen 
to be appreciated ; rivers are plentiful, large, 
and excellent, the greater part of them con- 
taining gold. The nightingale and a thou- 
sand kinds of birds enliven the woods with 
their song. There are many kinds of palms, 
of various elegant forms, besides other trees, 
95 



COLUMBUS 

roots, and herbs, while the pines are mag- 
nificent. It has many mines of gold and 
a population innumerable." 

The Cubans called the island Baheque and 
Bohio — meaning the "great country"; but 
to the natives it was known as Hdi-ti, or the 
Island of Mountains." That it contained 
gold was made manifest almost as soon as 
land was reached, for all the natives had it, 
apparently, either in nuggets or grains. The 
first landing in Haiti was on December 6th, 
at the great natural dock known as Mole St. 
Nicolas, whence the north coast was skirted 
till, a storm coming up, the Admiral sought 
shelter under the lee of that rocky island 
known as Tortuga, or the Sea Turtle, so 
named by him because of its shape. It be- 
came a famous resort for buccaneers and 
pirates — their great stronghold in the Carib- 
bean Sea — after the Spaniards had become 
numerous there; but at the time Columbus 
found it, Tortuga was uninhabited. Thence, 
after the storm was over, he sailed across the 
naiTow channel that separated the island 
from Haiti, and brought to view a valley so 
beautiful that he named it Val de Paraiso 
(Vale of Paradise). 



VIII 

WHERE THE FLAG-SHIP WAS WRECKED 
1492 

THE first disaster to the fleet came 
through the agency of a boy. He was, 
perhaps, the first white boy in America, and 
the only one who went with Columbus on 
that memorable voyage. He is mentioned 
but once, and then in terms of censure; but 
what he did will be shown a little further on. 
Meanwhile, let us sail with Columbus across 
the sea - channel between Tortuga and the 
main island, thence along the coast, until 
we arrive at the scene of disaster referred to. 
When in mid-channel, the Santa Maria over- 
took an old Indian in a still older canoe, and 
both in danger from the heavy seas, the 
Admiral thought, so he took them aboard. 
Through the Indians from the Bahamas, who 
were able to speak a few Spanish words, 
Columbus inquired of the man in what di- 
rection lay Cipango. To his great joy, the 
97 



COLUMBUS 

Indian pointed to some misty mountain 
peaks of the interior, and said, "Ci-ba-o, 
Ci-ba-o." 

There was, indeed — and is to-day — a moun- 
tainous region of Haiti called by that name, 
which abounds in gold, and, moreover, it lay 
in the direction indicated by the Indian, 
only a few days' travel from the coast. Ci- 
ba-o, in the Haitian language, means the 
"gold-stone country," and the name of this 
gold-producing region was so similar to 
"Cipango," that Columbus was certain they 
were one and the same. He was confirmed 
in this impression by a young cacique who 
came to meet him at the beautiful Bay of 
Acul. He was borne on the shoulders of 
his subjects, and brought a present from his 
superior cacique, Guacanagari, in the shape 
of a cotton girdle, to which was attached a 
sort of mask, with face, tongue, ears, and 
nose of beaten gold. His men, also, were 
abundantly supplied with gold in grains, 
which they gladly bartered for trifles like 
beads and bells. They came by land, they 
came by sea — running, swimming, paddling 
in their frail canoes— for they had been told 
of these simple men who gave beads and 
cascabels, for gold which thev could pick 
98 



THE FLAG-SHIP WRECKED 

up in the streams at will, by a woman whom 
the Spaniards took captive at San Nicolas. 
They had found her in the forest, and when 
they took her aboard ship she was over- 
come by fear; but when presented with 
some glittering beads and jingling bells, she 
leaped overboard, swam ashore, and told 
all her neighbors of the "men who had come 
down from the sky." vSo they came to see 
for themselves, and though not one of them 
wore clothing of any kind, each man, wom- 
an, and child was provided with gold. This 
they desired to exchange for the chug-chugs, 
or cascabels, the tinkling music of which 
was new to them, and one Indian, after giv- 
ing for one of these trifles a nugget of gold 
worth perhaps a hundred dollars, ran away 
as fast as his legs could carry him, lest the 
Spaniard should repent of his bargain and 
take the bell away! 

At last, thought Columbus, the Spaniards 
had arrived at Cipango, that land of gold 
and spices described by Marco Polo. The 
cacique, Guacanagari, if not a representa- 
tive of the Grand Khan, must be an allied 
potentate surely and an invitation to visit 
his court was promptly accepted. The gen- 
tle people who had welcomed them to Acul 
99 



COLUMBUS 

were loath to let them go, and of the bay 
itself Columbus wrote: "I have now been at 
sea twenty-three years, with scarcely any 
intermission, and have seen the East and the 
West; but in all those parts I have never 
witnessed so much of perfection in harbors 
as in this." He and his sailors had been for 
four months in almost daily expectation of 
something dire to happen ; they had dreamed 
of sea-serpents, submarine monsters, and 
mermaids; they had wailed over the con- 
tinuous trade- winds, which, always blowing 
from the direction of vSpain, would prevent 
them from returning home; and they were 
fearful that, having reached the bottom of 
that "watery hill," they should never get 
back again. But their blissful experiences 
on the coast of Haiti thus far had lulled their 
suspicions and calmed their fears. Having 
found the seas around those islands ever 
smooth and serene, the breezes gentle, and 
the currents favorable, they had become 
careless and neglectful of their duties. 

On the morning of a bright and beautiful 
day, December 24th, the flag-ship and the 
caravel set their sails and coasted easterly 
again, over a sea of glassy smoothness, past 
noble headlands crowned with palms, past 
100 



THE FLAG-SHIP WRECKED 

crescent-shaped beaches of snowy sands, with 
valleys, veritable vales of paradise, reaching 
back into the mountains. The distance to 
Guarico, the cacique's town, was not great, 
but as the breezes were light and baffling, 
interspersed w4th calms, the day passed by 
and night arrived before the bay on which 
it stood was sighted. As the sea was smooth 
and the flag-ship almost motionless, Colum- 
bus concluded to take a much -needed rest, 
and about midnight retired to his cabin, 
after cautioning the master to keep a care- 
ful watch. But the captain of the watch fol- 
lowed his example, and then the helmsman, 
tired of holding an immovable tiller, gave 
it to a boy, and went to sleep. Then the 
only wakeful person on board the flag-ship 
was that hapless lad, into whose hands 
chance had thrust the helm, at the very 
time the most extreme care was necessary. 
For, though the fragrant breezes from off 
shore were light and zephyr-like, and the sea 
shone in the moonlight like molten silver, 
yet there was a terrible force at work, urging 
the ship upon an unseen shoal. In a word, 
the Santa Maria was carried by a treacherous 
current upon a reef — silently, but with great 
violence, so that she became firmly wedged, 



COLUMBUS 

and her seams began to open. The alert 
ear of the Admiral heard the waves lapping 
against her sides at the instant the boy's 
cry of alarm rang through the ship, and he 
hurried on deck. Taking in the situation 
at a glance, he ordered a boat astern with 
an anchor, in order to warp the ship off the 
reef; but the master, to whom this was in- 
trusted rowed off to the caravel, which was 
less than two miles to windward. Though 
the sea was calm, the heavy swell came in 
with great force from the open ocean, and 
soon it was necessary to cut away the 
masts. Even this extreme measure did 
not save her, for she began breaking up 
soon after, and Columbus saw that he must 
abandon his good ship Santa Maria, in 
which he had sailed from Spain to the New 
World. 

As the reef on which the ship struck was 
only four or five miles from Guarico, the 
Admiral sent messengers to the cacique 
imploring assistance, which was rendered 
promptly and cheerfully by the Indian chief. 
He sent a fleet of canoes to the reef, in which 
all the wreckage of the vessel was taken 
ashore before day had dawned. At sunrise, 
Columbus and his crew were the guests of the 

I02 



THE FLAG-SHIP WRECKED 

cacique with the almost unpronounceable 
name — the generous Guacanagari. 

This, the first accident of moment that 
happened on the first voyage to America, 
occurred in the early hours of Christmas 
morning, 1492. Preparations had probably 
been made for a festival that day, but, in- 
stead of rejoicing, the Spaniards all gave 
way to gloom and despondency. Noting 
the Admiral's downcast looks, and hearing 
him sigh deeply and frequently, the cacique 
did his best to cheer him, though he is said 
to have shed tears of sympathy when he 
received his honored guest at Guarico. Lit- 
erally speaking, he placed all he had at his 
disposal, and such was the honest}?" and 
good- will of these barbarous aborigines, who 
for the first time then looked upon civilized 
man, that not even a nail or a bolt was lost 
from the wreckage of the flag-ship. 

It was piled upon the beach, and during 
the week that followed a small fort was 
constructed from the timbers, which was 
defended by the lombards that, ten weeks 
before, had saluted the newly - discovered 
San Salvador. One of these cannon was 
fired expressly for King Guacanagari's bene- 
fit, and when, for the first time in their 
103 



COLUMBUS 

peaceful lives, he and his subjects heard its 
thunderous roar wake the echoes of their 
hills, and its ponderous ball crash through 
the forest trees, they all fell to the ground, 
overcome by fear. They themselves pos- 
sessed no more forceful weapons than their 
bows and arrows, and when a Moorish cross- 
bowman gave an exhibition of his skill they 
were filled with surprise. They recognized 
the potency of such allies as these tiirey 
men, or heaven-sent beings, in their wars 
with the fierce cannibals of the more southern 
islands; but this was not the motive that 
impelled them to open-handed generosity, 
for that was but a part of their noble nature. 
Nothing the Spaniards desired was withheld 
from them, and as for gold, it was brought 
to Columbus in such quantities that he 
really believed, as he wrote in a letter to his 
sovereigns, that more than a ton could be 
collected in a year. The cacique even doffed 
his golden crown, and compelled a com- 
panion chief to do the same, presenting both 
coronets to the Admiral; while, for such a 
trifle as a cascabel, the natives would gladly 
give a handful of gold-dust in exchange, 
considering themselves well paid. 

Bathed as it was in a golden atmosphere, 
104 



THE FLAG-SHIP WRECKED 

steeped in the suns of a perpetual summer, 
yielding the most delicious fruits and frag- 
rant flowers of the tropics, this island of 
Haiti seemed to the Spaniards not far short 
of paradise. When, in the preparation for 
departure, it became necessary to leave a 
portion of the flag-ship's crew behind, more 
men offered to remain than wished to re- 
turn to vSpain. The little Nina could not 
carry all, to the number of ninety or a hun- 
dred men, so forty were told off to man the 
fort which had been built from the flag- 
ship's wreckage, and placed under command 
of Diego de Arana, notary and alguacil to 
the armament. There is a tradition that the 
boy who was at the helm when the Santa 
Maria was wrecked, formed one of the gar- 
rison of this first fort erected in America 
by Europeans, but no further mention is 
made of him. He was "only a boy," 
though he was sturdily doing his best when 
the ship was forced upon the reef, and de- 
served better of fate than to be thrust back 
into oblivion. He was unfortunate in hav- 
ing the helm at the time of an accident 
which shortened the voyage and compelled 
Columbus to set sail for Spain when on the 
threshold of discovery. 



COLUMBUS 

During the week between Christmas of 
1492 and New Year's Day, 1493 — two dates 
which will serve to fix these memorable 
events in mind — much gold was collected, 
and the fort was built, which was called 
Navidad (the Nativity), on account of the 
day on which the wreck occurred. In a let- 
ter written off the Canaries, on the voyage 
home, Columbus said: "I have taken pos- 
session of a large town, to which I gave the 
name of Navidad, and have built a fort there, 
in every respect complete. And I have left 
sufficient people in it to take care of it, with 
artillery and provisions for more than a year, 
also a boat and a coxswain, all in complete 
friendship with the king of the island, to that 
degree that he delighted to call me, and look- 
ed on me as, his brother. And should they 
fall out with these people, neither he nor his 
subjects know anything of weapons, and go 
naked, and are the most timorous people in 
the world. The few people left there are 
sufficient to conquer the country, and the 
island would thus remain without danger 
to them, they keeping order among them- 
selves. . . . 

" Hitherto I have not seen in any of these 
islands any monsters, as there were sup- 
106 



THE FLAG-SHIP WRECKED 

posed to be, nor have heard of any, except 
at an island which is second in going to the 
Indies, and which is inhabited by a people 
who are considered in all the islands as 
ferocious, and who devour human flesh. 
These have many canoes, in which they 
scour all the islands of India and plunder 
all they can. They are fierce as compared 
with the other people, who are in general 
but sad cowards." 

Columbus, and the men he left in Navidad, 
reckoned too much upon the cowardice of 
the Haitian people, and left out of their cal- 
culation the ferocious Caribs, who roamed 
the sea in their great war-canoes, with the 
result that when he returned to this place 
less than a year later not one of the garrison 
remained alive to greet him! Before he de- 
parted, Guacanagari spread forth a banquet, 
the like of which neither he nor any other 
white man had ever enjoyed before. Seated 
on the ground beneath umbrageous trees, 
with modest Indian maids to wait on them, 
and lave their hands with water in cala- 
bashes scented with fragrant herbs, the 
Spaniards ate their fill of native fruits and 
viands. They were served with ajes, or 
nutritive roots; native bread made from 
107 



COLUMBUS 

cassavi, such as the island has to - day ; 
shrimp from the streams; parrots and utias 
from the forests, with a beverage made from 
the palm to "wash them down;" and finally 
they were given Y-shaped tubes of cane, 
through which they were taught to inhale 
the fumes of a weed called tobacco. There 
was nothing lacking which the island could 
supply, and in respect to their hospitality 
Columbus has well said: "Where they have 
confidence and forget their fears, they are 
so open-hearted and liberal with all they 
possess that it is scarcely to be believed 
without seeing it. If anything that they 
have is asked of them, they never deny it; 
on the contrary, their generosity is so great 
that they would give anything, whether it 
is costly or not, for anything of every kind 
that is offered them, and be quite contented 
with it." 

The vSpaniards left these people with re- 
gret, all those who had not been detailed to 
garrison the fort setting sail eastward in 
the little Nina. This was on January 4th, 
and Guacanagari's banquet may have been 
given about New Year's Day. At all events, 
it was in the first week of the year 1493 
that the Admiral bade farewell to his good 
108 



THE FLAG-SHIP WRECKED 

friend, the cacique, to whom he commended 
his friends in the fort, and actually began 
the homeward voyage to Spain. The signal 
gun fired on board the Pinta was answered 
by a parting salute from the fort, and the 
departing voyagers looked their last upon 
their countr3^men left alone in that wilder- 
ness surrounded by savages. 

Having lost his largest vessel by ship- 
wreck, and having left a year's supply of 
provisions with the garrison, Columbus felt 
compelled to hasten homeward, when, but 
for the accident to the Santa Maria, he 
would probably have explored the unknown 
interior of Haiti, which he called Isla Es- 
panola (Spanish Island), He sailed along 
the north coast of the island, through three 
degrees of longitude, before taking his final 
departure, however, and only two days out 
from Guarico fell in with Captain Martin 
Alonzo, who came towards him in the Pinta, 
straight before the wind. He had been all 
the time trading with the natives for gold, 
which he had found in abundance, for he 
had sailed into a river which flowed down 
from the Cibao, or Goldstone country, guided 
thither by the Indians whom he had taken 
aboard at Cuba. A shrewd and capable 
109 



COLUMBUS 

mariner was Captain Martin Alonzo, and as 
he commanded the larger of the two re- 
maining vessels, it behooved Columbus to 
handle him cautiously, lest he sail off and 
leave him, with his crazy little craft now 
crowded to the bulwarks. So he spoke with 
him waril}'', and reproved him gently for his 
dereliction ; but he compelled him to restore 
to liberty four captives he had on board, 
greatly to Pinzon's disgust. 

In the river where Martin Alonzo had been 
trading, turtles and manatees (which Colum- 
bus mistook for mermaids) were seen in 
great numbers, and when the Spaniards 
went in to fill their water-casks, flakes of 
gold adhered to the hoops and were seen 
sparkling in the sands. This river was 
known to the natives as the YaquI, but, on 
account of the auriferou^ character of its 
sands, the Admiral called it the Rio del Oro, 
or River of Gold. It is a large and beauti- 
ful river, having its source in the Cibao 
region of that portion of the island now 
known as Santo Domingo, and still retains 
its aboriginal name. Eastward from the 
Yaqui, a few leagues, the Admiral sighted 
a tentlike promontory, which he named 
Monte Cristi, and in the harbor it sheltered 



THE FLAG-SHIP WRECKED 

held converse with Pinzon as to the route 
to pursue. They concluded to hold on their 
course along the coast until it dipped to the 
south, when they would strike out into open 
ocean. Thus they sailed along a most pict- 
uresque coast, interweaving with the warp 
of its beautiful scenery the woof of historical 
occurrences. They passed the point where, 
the next year, the first New- World city was 
founded, sailed by a shining mountain which 
Columbus called La Plata — the Silver — the 
name of its port to-day, and at last arrived 
off that superb promontory Cape Cabron. 
The Spaniards named it Caho del Enamorado, 
or the Lover's Cape, but for what reason no 
one knows. Beyond, a few leagues, they 
looked upon the great, granite face of Ba- 
landra Head, another promontory, draped 
in flowing robes of tropic tapestry, and 
guarding the most magnificent bay, or gulf, 
they had then discovered. This was the 
great Bay of Sam ana, containing on its 
western shores other and smaller bays, 
silver -sanded, forest -fringed, with tinkling 
streamlets sparkling beneath overhanging 
palms, and sea-birds flitting over waves that 
gently lapped the shore. As the scene was 
entrancing, and water was needed for the 



COLUMBUS 

voyage, a boat was sent ashore with an 
armed guard, followed by Columbus with a 
party intent on observation only. While 
the water-casks were being filled, a savage 
came strolling up, whose fearless manner was 
so sharply in contrast with the cringing 
nature of the people hitherto encountered, 
that the Admiral was led to observe him 
closely. He was ferocious of aspect and his 
face was decorated with war-paint, while 
his weapons were of finer make and more 
effective than those in use by the natives of 
Cuba and Haiti generally. He carried a 
bow of great length, his arrows were slender 
reeds, and his sword was of iron - wood, so 
heavy and so sharp that "it was capable of 
cleaving through a man's helmet to the very 
brain." 

When the savage was brought to Colum- 
bus, he entered into conversation with him 
through the interpreters, and gained much 
information of a doubtful character as to 
the islands south and east of Babeque, 
There, for instance, was the "island of 
Amazons," Madinino, inhabited only by 
ferocious women warriors, who slew every 
man that landed on their shores; and this 
Amazonian island was long and vainly 



THE FLAG-SHIP WRECKED 

sought by Columbus in subsequent voyages. 
This Indian had been probably sent out as a 
lure, for he was a Carib, one of those fierce 
cannibals of whom the Admiral had heard 
but never seen, and led the Spaniards into 
an ambush. Suddenly there appeared "a 
body of fifty Indians, all naked, with coarse 
hair as long as the women wear it in Castile, 
the backs of their heads adorned with par- 
rots' feathers, and in their hands big bows, 
arrows, javelins, and war-clubs." They as- 
sumed at first a friendly attitude, laying 
aside their weapons, but, suddenly changed 
about, seized their bows and war-clubs, and 
attacked the Spaniards fiercel}^. Though 
taken by surprise, the latter repelled the 
attack, and with their sharp swords wounded 
several of the Caribs, when the others fled 
into the forest with howls of rage and dis- 
may. They were not followed, but the next 
day their cacique came down from his resi- 
dence in the hills accompanied by hundreds 
of his warriors, and traded with the Span- 
iards amicably, among other things of value, 
presenting to Columbus a coronet of gold. 



IX 

THE RETURN VOYAGE TO SPAIN 
1493 

THE first bloodshed of the voyage, the 
first encounter between Europeans and 
Indians in America (unless we give credence 
to the Norsemen's tales of skirmishes with 
the " Skraelings ") , occurred on the shore of 
Samana, near a little bay still known as the 
Golfo de las Flechas, or Gulf of Arrows. It 
was so named by Coliimbus on account of 
the multitude of arrows shot at the Span- 
iards by the natives, and which strewed the 
ground after the brief conflict was over. 
The Admiral regretted this encounter, fear- 
ing it might create "bad blood" between the 
Indians and his garrison at Navidad; but 
the Caribs were not incensed, for they rather 
respected a worthy foe, and seemed delighted 
as well as surprised to come in contact with 
people of greater prowess than themselves. 
They mingled with the Spaniards freely, 
114 



THE RETURN VOYAGE TO SPAIN 

and four of the young warriors offered to 
guide the Admiral to the Amazonian island, 
hoping, probably, to obtain redress, through 
their new and invincible friends, for long- 
standing offences. 

The Indians had pointed to the northeast 
as the direction in which the island of Am- 
azons lay, and, as that was on the homeward 
route to Spain, Columbus accepted their 
offer gladly, on January i6th setting sail 
for the mythical Madinino. He fully be- 
lieved in this island of Amazons, and in one 
of the letters he wrote, on this very voyage, 
he says, "It is the first island, in going from 
Spain to the Indies, in which there are no 
men whatever." But he also says, "There 
was, farther west [of Guarico], a province I 
did not visit called Cibau, the people of which 
are born with tails!" He also believed in 
dog-headed men, one-eyed monsters, mer- 
maids, dragons, and was greatly disappointed 
that he found none of them in the West In- 
dies. But he made the most of the mana- 
tees he saw in the Rio del Oro, describing 
them as veritable mermaids, though "not 
so handsome" as he had been led to believe 
they were. However, he left the Gulf of 
Arrows and went in search of the Amazons, 
115 



COLUMBUS 

really expecting to find them. After pro- 
ceeding fifty or sixty miles, the Indians said 
they were mistaken in locating the island in 
the northeast, as it really was in the south- 
east. This put a different face on the matter, 
and, as the wind now blew from a quarter 
favorable for the voyage to Spain, Amazon 
Island was left for another time. The un- 
fortunate savages were taken along, perforce, 
and probably formed part of the procession 
later led by Columbus across Spain to Bar- 
celona, 

He already had a few Cubans, Lucayans 
or Bahamans, and Haitians or Arawaks; but 
these Caribs (or perhaps they were Ciguey- 
ans) would form an agreeable variety in the 
"ethnological congress" he purposed as- 
sembling at the court of vSpain. He had 
collected them as curiosities merely ; but, 
whatever his motive, he compelled the poor 
savages to take the voyage. They were 
downcast, even reduced to despair, at the 
prospect; but the sailors were overjoyed. 
They had grown tired of strange sights and 
peoples, foods and drinks ; wearied of gazing 
on forest scenery, though varied and beau- 
tiful, and longed for the parched and barren 
plains of their own "sunny Spain." There 
ii6 



THE RETURN VOYAGE TO SPAIN 

was, therefore, a glad shout of assent when 
Columbus announced his decision to proceed 
for home, and gave the pilots orders to hold 
the course for Spain. 

The favorable wind did not last very 
long, and during the remainder of the month 
the breezes were either very light, or dead 
ahead. The trade-winds, which had helped 
the vessels along on the outward voyage, 
operated as the sailors had feared they 
would, and prevented progress on the re- 
turn. But the weather was mild, and the 
seas so calm that the Indians frequently 
plunged into the water and swam about the 
vessels. The sailors amused themselves by 
fishing, catching a shark and some tunny 
fish, which proved welcome additions to 
their diminishing stock of provisions, as by 
February ist they were reduced to bread 
and wine and Indian peppers. 

They worked out of the trade-wind region 
at last, and about February loth were en- 
abled to steer a straight course towards 
Spain; but the pilots were confused in their 
reckoning, and Columbus alone knew ap- 
proximately their position as to latitude and 
longitude. He may have been responsible 
for this, having confessedly kept a double 
9 117 



COLUMBUS 

reckoning on the outward vo^^age, so that 
the pilots calculated they were at least one 
hundred and fifty leagues nearer Spain than 
was actually the case. The Admiral allowed 
them to remain in error without enlighten- 
ing them as to the truth, doing, all he could, 
in fact, to add to their perplexity, so that 
he only should have accurate knowledge of 
the route to the West Indies, 

In mid-February they were in about the 
latitude of Andalusia, though a long dis- 
tance out in the Atlantic. Just at the time 
they were congratulating themselves upon 
a prosperous termination of the voyage, a 
terrible storm broke upon them which lasted 
several days. The seas ran mountains high, 
it seemed to those imperilled sailors at the 
mercy of wind and waves. They were 
obliged to take in all sail and scud before 
the blast with "bare poles," and as it was 
impossible for the vessels to keep company 
in such stress of weather, they soon sep- 
arated. The Pinta a second time sailed be- 
yond the vision of Columbus; but on this 
occasion he knew it was owing to no dere- 
liction of Captain Pinzon, the foremast of 
whose vessel was so weak that he had to 
scud directly before the storm. 
ii8 



THE RETURN VOYAGE TO SPAIN 

Supposing the Pinta to be lost, and that 
his own vessel could not long survive the 
gale, Columbus resorted to an expedient 
which shows his belief in the desperate 
nature of their condition. Oppressed by 
the thought that, even after all his suffer- 
ings, his great and glorious deeds might per- 
ish, leaving behind no record, he wrote on 
parchment an account of what had been 
done, seen, and found, wrapped it in a 
waxed cloth, which again he enclosed in a 
cake of wax and placed in a barrel. This 
barrel was then made water-tight with pitch 
and thrown into the sea, while a duplicate 
of the manuscript was similarly enclosed in 
another cask, which was placed on the upper 
deck, in order that, if the vessel should go to 
pieces, it might be washed off by the waves. 

Nothing further was ever heard of this 
message which the Admiral committed to 
the keeping of the waves, unless a story re- 
lated by the master of a vessel in 1851 may 
have credence. While taking ballast, on the 
coast of Africa opposite Gibraltar (he re- 
ported), one of his crew picked up what 
appeared to be a large piece of pumice in- 
crusted with barnacles. It was broken open, 
when a keg was disclosed, containing a 
119 



COLUMBUS 

cocoa-nut, covered with gum or wax, within 
which was a manuscript in old Gothic Span- 
ish. Upon being deciphered, in sooth, it 
was found to be "the veritable accoimt 
written by Columbus, nearly three hundred 
and sixty years before, whose signature it 
bore in a bold, dashing hand." The finder, 
who was then at Gibraltar, promised to take 
his prize to the United States; but as no 
news was subsequently received from him 
or the manuscript, it is possible both may 
have been lost at sea. 

The Admiral did not inform his crew as 
to the true purport of his act in throwing 
the barrel overboard, fearing they would 
give way to despair, but told them it was 
done in performance of a vow. This they 
could readily believe, sharing the supersti- 
tion of Columbus that the storm gods might 
be propitiated by vows and promises. Con- 
sidering themselves beyond all human aid, 
they sought to avert extreme disaster by 
solemn vows to Heaven that, if saved, they 
would perform various pilgrimages and 
penitences, for which they cast lots, by plac- 
ing a number of beans in a hat, one of which 
was marked with a cross. This bean was 
drawn by Columbus two or three times in 



THE RETURN VOYAGE TO SPAIN 

succession, and, among other obligations, he 
was pledged to watch and pray during an 
entire night in a holy chapel of Moguer — a 
pledge which he faithfully redeemed. 

The storm continued to rage for nearly 
a week thereafter, in the midst of which land 
was sighted. It proved to be the little isl- 
and of St. Mary's, one of the Azores group, 
but could not be approached for two or 
three days more, on account of a contrary 
wind. When, at last, the storm-tossed mar- 
iners set foot on shore, they were rough- 
ly received by the Portuguese inhabitants 
of the island, led by the Governor, who had 
orders from his sovereign to arrest Columbus 
should he land in the Azores, One-half the 
crew were landed with great difficulty, owing 
to the roughness of the seas, and, in accord- 
ance with their vows on board ship, they 
went to a chapel, or hermitage, barefooted, 
and clad merely in their shirts, to offer 
thanksgivings for their deliverance. While 
engaged in these devotions, their coreligion- 
ists fell upon and made them prisoners, as 
if they were criminals, rather than discov- 
erers worthy of great honor and renown. 
They were detained two or three days by 
the Governor, who sought by stratagem to 



COLUMBUS 

get Coliimbus in his power, but without suc- 
cess. He only released them when shown 
the Admiral's credentials, displaying the 
royal seal of Spain, and then did what he 
could to make amends for his baseness and 
perfidy. Columbus had been exposed to 
great peril while the men of his crew were 
on shore, being then short-handed, with only 
landsmen and Indians to assist him, and 
was for two days beating about at sea, un- 
able to regain the land. After receiving his 
rescued seamen on board, and threatening 
the unworthy representative of Portugal 
with the vengeance of his sovereigns, he 
stood away from this inhospitable island 
on February 24th, for three days enjoying 
fine weather, when head winds and a tur- 
bulent sea again assailed him. The coast 
of Portugal was not far distant, and the near- 
er to land the frail caravel was driven, the 
rougher the reception she received. Watery 
mountains succeeded to profound abysses, 
over and into which she was forced, while 
rain fell in torrents, lightning flashed, and 
thunder roared in deafening peals. Her 
sails were torn to tatters by a squall of wind, 
and under bare poles the gallant little Nina 
plunged through the terrors of a night of 
122 



THE RETURN VOYAGE TO SPAIN 

gloom, when the cry of "Land!" was raised 
by a seaman on the watch. 

It was at the end of a weary week of storm, 
at daybreak of March 4th, that the rock of 
Cintra was sighted, near the mouth of the 
river Tagus. The "golden Tagus" has its 
birth in the mountains of Spain, and among 
other famous cities on its banks is grand old 
Toledo, but it meets the sea on the coast 
of Portugal. It was a sore disappointment 
to Columbus that the first land on his re- 
turn voyage should be that pertaining to 
the sovereign who had by treachery en- 
deavored to deprive him of his just deserts. 
But the tempest still prevailing prevented 
him from putting to sea again and seeking 
a port of Spain, so he made the best of cir- 
cumstances and stood into the river. What- 
ever was in store for him and his crev/ at 
Lisbon, the capital, only a few miles away, 
the people at the mouth of the river received 
them with enthusiastic greetings. They had 
watched with anxiety the approach of the 
little craft, coming in at the end of a stonn 
that had raged for more than a week, and 
which had caused numerous shipwrecks on 
their coast. They flocked aboard in such 
numbers, having heard a report that the 
123 



COLUMBUS 

vessel was laden with gold, that Columbus 
was alarmed, especially in view of the fact 
that they bore a bad reputation. He sent 
a dispatch post-haste to the King, who was 
then at Valparaiso, requesting permission to 
repair to Lisbon, where he could rest in 
greater security. He also solicited an audi- 
ence of his Majesty, though uncertain as to 
the nature of his reception from one who 
had spurned the offer of a world which he 
was now proceeding to lay at the feet of 
Portugal's rival. While awaiting answer to 
his communication, he was summoned on 
board a Portuguese man-of-war then an- 
chored in the stream, the captain of which, 
Don Alonzo de Acuna, demanded an account 
of his doings. The commander was aston- 
ished to receive reply that, as an admiral of 
Spain, such a proceeding would be deroga- 
tory to his rights and dignities, and the de- 
mand was refused. Such was the still un- 
daunted spirit of Columbus, which insisted 
upon the punctilios due to his station, even 
though in the midst of enemies and com- 
pletely at their mercy. The captain was 
amused; but he was generous, and himself 
made the first visit of ceremony, going 
aboard the caravel in great state, and plac- 
124 



THE RETURN VOYAGE TO SPAIN 

ing his services at the disposal of the great 
discoverer. 

His reception by the King was such as was 
usually reserved for royalty alone ; but what 
must have been the feelings of his host while 
listening to that wonderful story? Though 
consumed with inward rage and grief at the 
thought of what he had lost by his duplicity, 
and though (as even Portuguese historians 
have asserted) he was urged to deprive Co- 
lumbus of his laurels and the Spanish sov- 
ereigns of their prospective empire by re- 
sort to the assassin's dagger, the King stifled 
his resentment, and treated Columbus with 
the greatest consideration. He even ordered 
(provided he wished to proceed to Spain 
by land) that the Admiral should be given 
horses and an escort to the frontier. Dur- 
ing the days he was entertained at court, 
however, the weather had become favorable 
for voyaging, and so Columbus decided to 
proceed by sea rather than by land. 

At sunrise, March 1 5th, after two days of 
pleasant sailing around the southwest coast 
of Portugal, the Nina, with her precious 
freightage from the New World, safely 
crossed the bar of Saltes, which she had left 
at sunrise of an August day the year before. 
125 



COLUMBUS 

Sailing up the estuary to the river Tinto, 
she cast anchor off the port of Palos, where, 
the signal having been sent from La Rabida, 
excited throngs awaited her arrival. The 
little town was in a tumult, for (as we know) 
every inhabitant of Palos had a friend or a 
relative in that expedition, the smallest 
vessel of which had at last returned, storm- 
battered and alone, after an absence of 
nearly seven months and a half. 

"Only the Nina [the child] has returned," 
the people whispered, fearsomely. "Where 
are the others: the Santa Maria and the 
Pintaf' 

The clamor and rejoicings of the crowd 
were hushed until, boats having put off 
from shore, the truth was ascertained. 
Then, as the sailors went ashore and mingled 
with their friends, cries arose of grief and of 
joy. Only one-third the number that sailed 
away had come back to Palos, and while 
these were welcomed as if returned from the 
grave — as if the ocean had given them up 
from its depths — there were yet fourscore 
more unaccounted for ! 

But the bells rang forth their greetings, a 
procession was formed, and in the church 
that had heard the royal proclamation read 
126 



THE RETURN VOYAGE TO SPAIN 

ten months before — that knell of doom to 
many — thanks were given Almighty God for 
His mercies. Hardly had the sounds of 
rejoicing died away, scarcely had the clangor 
of bells ceased to rend the air, when, as 
evening of that memorable day approached, 
and after the throngs had dispersed, an- 
other caravel sailed slowly up the river. 
It was the Pinta, whose master, Martin 
Alonzo Pinzon, had hoped to outstrip Co- 
lumbus on the homeward voyage; but had 
returned only to taste the fruit of bitter 
disappointment. 



X 

A TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY 
1493 

IT would be fruitless to discuss the rela- 
tive merits of Pinzon and Columbus ; 
but the unhappy ending of the former can- 
not but excite the sympathy of all who have 
followed their adventures on that great 
first voyage to the New World. While 
Captain Martin Alonzo was loyal to his 
sovereigns in the larger sense, and rendered 
invaluable services to Columbus, yet he was 
derelict in his duty to the latter on at least 
two occasions: when he sailed away from 
him off the coast of Cuba, and at the end- 
ing of the voyage. Having been driven 
by adverse winds into the Bay of Biscay, 
far north of his course, he made a landing 
at Bayonne, and thence sent an account of 
the discoveries to Isabella and Ferdinand, 
with a request to be allowed to deliver his 
report in person. Believing that the Ad- 
128 



A TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY 

miral and all with him in his crazy caravel 
had perished at sea, he anticipated an en- 
thusiastic reception at Palos, where he was 
so well known, and erstwhile a powerful 
personage. Finding, therefore, on his ar- 
rival there, that Columbus had already- 
reaped the honors of the voyage, and being 
accused by his conscience of unfaithfulness 
to his commander, the unfortunate but 
noble Martin Alonzo landed without display, 
and quietly sought the shelter of his home 
in Moguer. This was his first humiliation — 
to find himself discredited by his towns- 
people; his second came when, in reply to 
his request for permission to appear at court, 
his sovereigns not only forbade him, but re- 
proached him bitterly for his behavior. 
Then the great-hearted navigator took to 
his bed, and shortly after died, a victim to 
base ingratitude and jealousy. 

His brother, Vicente Yafiez, remained 
with Columbus, to whom he was loyal from 
beginning to end; and we should not forget 
that it was owing to the Pinzon family, 
notably to Martin Alonzo, that the voyage 
became an accomplished fact and was car- 
ried to a successful conclusion. Columbus 
himself soon forgot his indebtedness to those 
129 



COLUMBUS 

stalwart aids, who supported his hands 
when they would have dropped from weari- 
ness, as he forgot, or ignored, his promises 
of rewards to others. This innate meanness 
of a man whose deeds should have raised 
him above the contemplation of petty 
things, will appear frequently as his career 
is followed to the end. That very trait of 
his nature, which had sustained him through 
all the long years of waiting upon courts 
and kings, and which carried him to a level 
with royalty, also prevented him from 
recognizing the worth or merits of any one 
except the great Christopher Columbus! 

He ignored Captain Pinzon, for it was a 
most convenient way of cancelling the debt 
he owed him, and, gathering his collection of 
New -World products together, set out for 
Seville, there to await the answer to the 
communication he had sent the sovereigns, 
then in the far-distant city of Barcelona. 
It came as quickly as fast courier could 
carry it: a royal order for him to appear as 
soon as possible, for their Majesties were 
feverishly anxious to hear his story and 
view the curiosities he had brought from 
across the sea. Wherever he went, the now 
great and triumphant Columbus was an 
130 



A TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY 

object of excessive admiration, not to say 
veneration, among the very people who had 
formerly derided him as a visionary for- 
eigner. In Seville, where he had been ridi- 
culed by the very beggars and children on 
the streets, he was held in vast esteem, and 
the houses of the nobility flew open before 
his knock, when previously he might have 
pleaded vainly at their gates. Nobles and 
courtiers flocked about him now, and espe- 
cially cringed before him when at last a 
letter came from the King and the Queen, 
commanding his presence at their court. 
Here is the letter from his royal patrons: 

" Barcelona, March 30, 1493. 
"The King and Queen to Don Christopher Colum- 
bus, our Admiral of the Ocean, Viceroy and Gov- 
ernor of the islands discovered in the Indies: We 
have seen your letters, and have derived much 
pleasure from their contents. We are rejoiced 
that God has granted so fortunate an issue to your 
enterprise, which will redound greatly to His ser- 
vice and to the profit of ourselves and our domin- 
ions. For these great services we hope to reward 
you in a manner suitable to your merits; and as 
it is our wish that the undertaking that has been 
begun by you be, with the help of God, carried on 
and accomplished, and as we desire to see you 
immediately, we request, therefore, that you will 
131 



COLUMBUS 

use all possible speed in hastening to us, that all 
necessary preparations may be made without de- 
lay. And as the season is early and favorable 
for your return to the countries you have discov- 
ered, we wish you would ascertain whether meas- 
ures cannot be taken at Seville, or other places, 
necessary to that end. We request you to write 
by our courier, who brings you this and who re- 
turns immediately, that the whole may be ar- 
ranged by the time you return thither to us. 

" I, the King. 

"I, the Queen. 
" By order of the King and Queen, 

" Fernand Alvarez." 



What a wonderful journey that was from 
Seville to Barcelona, both of them cities 
destined to be greatly enriched by com- 
merce with the newly discovered country! 
It extended throughout the entire length 
of eastern Spain, from near the Atlantic to 
the northwest Mediterranean, and all the 
way was like a triumphal procession. The 
people could not sufficiently express their 
gratitude to Columbus nor their admiration 
of the wonders he had brought to their 
country. Most of all they wondered at the 
Indians, natives of an unknown land, who 
had existed, themselves unknown to Europe, 
until brought to view by the voyage of Co- 
132 



A TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY 

lumbus and his company. They, as well as 
the honored Admiral and some of his sailors, 
were mounted on mules and horses, and, 
despite the triumphs accorded them on 
every hand, the long and dusty journey must 
have been sorely distressing. Six Indians 
went with Columbus to Barcelona, three 
having been left at Palos or Seville, too ill 
to make the journey, and one having died 
at sea, after baptism. This last, a pious 
writer of the time suggests, was probably the 
first of his race to enter heaven — that is, the 
heaven of the Christians. He soon had 
company, however, for within a few years 
thereafter the Spaniards caused the deaths 
of many thousand Indians in the islands 
discovered by Columbus. 

The strangest procession ever witnessed 
in Spain arrived at Barcelona about mid- 
April, and as it approached the city was met 
by a brilliant cavalcade, the cavaliers of 
which esteemed it a high honor to form an 
escort for the great discoverer, friend of 
their King and Queen. Thus escorted, and 
followed closely by his captives and men of 
his crew carrying various products of the 
new land, such as gold and spices, parrots, 
and other trophies of the voyage, Columbus 
^33 



COLUMBUS 

was ushered before the sovereigns he had so 
loyally served and singularly honored. He 
received with apparent pleasure, yet with 
modesty, the plaudits of the multitudes ; and 
he bore himself with dignity when arrived at 
the throne of his sovereigns, who rose to re- 
ceive him, and commanded that he be seated 
in their presence, as he bent to kiss their 
hands. As a suitable culmination of this 
notable achievement, the King and Queen 
had ordered their throne of state conspicu- 
ously placed in public, beneath a canopy of 
gold-embroidered brocade, so that all who 
were entitled to the distinction might wit- 
ness how they honored their great Admiral. 
They listened intently to the recital by Co- 
lumbus of the chief events of his voyage, at 
the close of which he showed them the gold 
he had brought, in nuggets and wrought into 
barbaric ornaments, and then presented the 
six Indians, who had remained crouching 
near the throne, in fear and apprehension. 
When he had finished, both King and Queen 
were moved to tears, and upon bended knees 
gave thanks to God for His favors. The 
choir in the chapel adjoining chanted the 
noble anthem, ''Te Deitm Laudamus" — 
"We Praise Thee, O God," and then the Ad- 
134 



A TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY 

miral was shown with ceremony to a suite 
of royal apartments, where he found await- 
ing him his son, Diego, from whom he had 
been so long separated. Father and son, 
once more reunited, were everywhere re- 
ceived with honor, and when the King rode 
out on horseback, they might frequently be 
seen accompanying him and Prince Juan, 
whom Diego had served as a page. The ven- 
erable and majestic appearance of the dis- 
coverer impressed all who saw him, and it 
was especially noted that he bore himself 
with a gravity and dignity that became 
him well, receiving the adulation of the 
people and the attentions of ro^'^alty as 
if convinced they were but his just de- 
serts. 

The sovereigns confirmed the rights and 
dignities assigned him in the "capitulation" 
of the previous year, and as a token of high 
favor allowed him to quarter the royal arms, 
a castle and a lion, together with a group of 
islands and anchors, upon the shield they 
gave him. Afterwards was added the motto 
(which may be seen engraved upon the 
marble slab covering the remains of Fer- 
nando Columbus, in the cathedral of Se- 
ville) : 

135 



COLUMBUS 

""A Castilla y a Leon, 
Nuevo Alundo dio Colon.'* 

(To Castile and to Leon, 

A New World Columbus gave.) 

On the coat of arms, which is preserved 
to-day, the inscription above the lion, castle, 
islands, and anchors reads: 

"Par Castilla y por Leon, Nuevo Mundo hallo 
Colon.'' 

(For Castile and for Leon, a New World Colum- 
bus found.) 

It was while in Barcelona that the inci- 
dent occurred — if at all — relating to the egg, 
when a mean-spirited courtier asked him, 
sneeringly, if it might not have been pos- 
sible for some other man to have discovered 
the Indies. Asking for an egg, Columbus 
desired the company present at the banquet 
to make it stand on end. No one could do 
so, but he, setting it down forcibly, broke 
one end and left it standing there erect; 
thus, without saying a word, rebuking the 
courtier and illustrating how easy it was for 
one to do a thing when another had shown 
the way. 

136 



A TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY 

The news of the discovery was slow in get- 
ting to foreign parts, and probably Italy was 
the first country outside of Spain to hear of 
it, by means of a letter from the historian, 
Peter Martyr, who wrote from Barcelona, in 
May, 1493: "A certain Christopher Colum- 
bus, a Ligurian, has returned from the an- 
tipodes. He had obtained for that purpose 
three ships from my sovereigns, with much 
difficulty, because the ideas he expressed 
were considered extravagant. But he came 
back and brought specimens of money and 
precious things, especially gold, which those 
regions naturally produce." 

This may have been the first intimation to 
the public ; but that an official communica- 
tion had been sent without delay to the Pope, 
Alexander VI., himself a native of Spain, is 
very probable, as in May, 1493, ^^ issued his 
famous "bull" granting the Spanish sover- 
eigns territorial rights and privileges simi- 
lar to those enjoyed by their royal brother 
of Portugal. He then, in order to obviate 
any conflict of authority between the two 
crowns in their foreign acquisitions, drew on 
the map an imaginary line from pole to pole, 
bisecting the ocean one hundred leagues west 
of the Azores and Cape de Verde islands. 
137 



COLUMBUS 

This imaginary line was, in June, 1494, re- 
moved two hundred and seventy leagues 
farther westward, and a j^erfect understand- 
ing existed between the two crowns that 
all lands discovered by them to the east- 
ward of said line were to belong to Portugal, 
and all to the westward were to pertain to 
Spain. The pontiff's ignorance of geography 
was exceeded only by his generosity, in be- 
stowing upon these two kingdoms the un- 
discovered regions of the world, over which 
he had no jurisdiction whatever, and to 
which he could show no claim. But it an- 
swered the purpose of the crowns to appeal 
to him as to a court of last resort, and, since 
they thus gained all the unknown world to 
themselves, they had little cause for com- 
plaint ; biit they respected each other's claims 
and discoveries. This will account for the 
possession of the Brazils by Portugal, when, 
by a most natural partition, they would have 
fallen into the hands of Spain, together with 
other portions of South America. 

Both Spain and Portugal were now ex- 
tremely active in pushing forward prepara- 
tions for expeditions, and there ensued a 
long period of diplomatic correspondence 
between the two courts respecting the rights 
138 



A TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY 

of each. In the end, the artful diplomacy 
of King Ferdinand prevailed over the less 
astute King John, and the schemes of the 
latter were thwarted, while those of the 
Spanish King went forward without a day's 
delay. The Spanish sovereigns had ac- 
cidentally, as it were, and through no merit 
of their own, become possessed of a new 
world beyond the ocean. Though they were 
slow in sending out an expedition of dis- 
covery, and though they had contributed 
hardly more than a moiety of its cost, they 
now assumed all the prerogatives of sov- 
ereignty, and claimed vastly more than 
they were, by any stretch of authority, en- 
titled to. Once convinced, however, of the 
magnitude of this discovery of their Ad- 
miral, they lost no time in prosecuting its 
exploitation. As we have seen, they in- 
structed him to make preparations for an- 
other voyage, even before they had heard 
from, his lips the story of the first. 

While in Seville Columbus prepared memo- 
randa relating to a second voyage, and when 
in Barcelona he was given authority and 
means for its accomplishment. A " house 
of the Indies" was established in Seville, an 
inland port on the river Guadalquivir, and 
139 



COLUMBUS 

at its head was placed a subtle churchman, 
Archdeacon Fonseca. For some reason, but 
probably on account of his arrogance and 
unreasonable demands, he became the ob- 
stinate enemy of the Admiral, and during 
his long continuance in an office which con- 
trolled the destinies of the colonial depend- 
encies, he never failed to oppose any who 
ventured their pretensions above his own. 
He regarded Columbus as an upstart ad- 
venturer, who by accident had brought to 
light a country which had been until then 
in darkness. When, therefore, the man who 
less than two years before was a ragged 
beggar at the foot of the throne, applied for 
lackeys and footmen, butlers and pages, as 
if he were, indeed, one born into the purple, 
he refused to sanction the extravagance. 
As Columbus was then in the heydey of his 
career, and had convinced even the cold and 
unresponsive Ferdinand that he had found 
for him another kingdom greater in extent 
than Spain, Fonseca was reprimanded, and 
from this incident dated his inveterate hos- 
tility or aversion. He did not, however, 
dispute any reasonable requisitions made 
by Columbus, and preparations for another 
voyage went on so rapidly (armed as were 
140 



A TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY 

both Fonseca and the Admiral with author- 
ity to impress any mariners they needed, 
and take by force all the vessels required) 
that by the early autumn of 1493 a large 
fleet was ready to sail on a second voyage of 
discovery. 



XI 

SECOND VOYAGE AND FIRST SETTLEMENT 
1493 

THE second voyage of Coliinibus to the 
New World disclosed far more beauti- 
ful islands than those v/hich had greeted him 
on the first, and his "landfall," in the chain 
of the Caribbees, was vastly more impressive 
than that of Guanahani or San Salvador. 
He had departed from the ]:)ort of Cadiz with 
a fleet of seventeen vessels, including three 
large carracks of more than a hundred tons 
burden each and fourteen caravels. These 
were laden with everything considered nec- 
essary to the planting of a colony in the 
wilderness, and with a great many things al- 
together useless and superfluous. Although 
it had been intended to take out not more 
than a thousand persons in all, the number 
that finally embarked, including volunteers 
and "stowaways" (lured by the wonderful 
stories of an idle life in that glorious coimtry, 
142 



SECOND VOYAGE-FIRST SETTLEMENT 

where gold was to be had for the seeking), 
was scarcely less than fifteen hundred. 

Old Spain, in fact, might have been al- 
most depopulated of its men had there 
been ships enough to carry all who wished 
to go. There were, besides the sailors, 
priests, monks, and cavaliers; soldiers who 
had fought against the Moors, and now were 
looking for other peoples to conquer, other 
fields in which to garner fame and golden 
harvests. The veritable weapons which had 
been used against the Moors, such as lances, 
arquebuses, halberds, and the defensive ar- 
mor — helms, corselets, coats of mail — were 
taken from their repositories and furbished 
up anew for this coming conquest of the 
transatlantic heathen. The nobility, as well 
as the commonalty, contributed its quota 
of adventurers; and such was the enthu- 
siasm aboard the ships, such the display 
of wealth and warlike accoutrement, that a 
most notable contrast was afiforded to the 
dubious departure from Palos, on the first 
voyage, scarcely fourteen months before. 

By sunset of September 25, 1493, the 
walls of Cadiz were lost to view. On Oc- 
tober 13th, Ferro, in the Canaries (at which 
Columbus had touched for wood, water, and 
143 



COLUMBUS 

live-stock), was left behind, and the course 
was shaped towards the Carib islands, of 
which the Admiral had been infoiTned by the 
Indians he had captured in the Gulf of Sa- 
mana. By sailing more southerly than on 
the aimless first voyage, he avoided some- 
what the Sargasso's vast expanse of sea- 
weeds, and sooner received the strength of 
the trade-winds. Except for a single trop- 
ical tempest, encountered in the last week 
of October (during which the sailors were 
treated to a display of "St. Elmo's fire," 
playing in circles of lambent flame around 
the flag-ship's topmasts), nothing occurred 
to mar the serenity of that second outward 
voyage from Spain. Signs of land were 
noticed November ist, and at dawn of the 
2d, a gloriously beautiful island, like an ap- 
parition of enchantment, rose to greet the 
eager voyagers. This vision of beauty, in 
the shape of a lofty mountain, clad with 
varying green from sea-line to summit, was 
called by Columbus, Dominica, from having 
been first seen on a Sunday. By this name 
it is still known, and lies about midway the 
crescent-shaped chain of islands called the 
Lesser Antilles, or Caribbees. It should in- 
terest the reader to note that here, to-day, 
144 



SECOND VOYAGE-FIRST SETTLEMENT 

on the eastern slopes of that mountain seen 
by Columbus in November, 1493, resides a 
remnant of the Carib race, or people, from 
which the islands took their name. He 
could not land on the "windward," or At- 
lantic coast of the island, the seas there 
were so rough, the shores so difficult of ap- 
proach, but kept on towards another smaller 
isle, to which flocks of screaming parrots 
were winging their way. Here he found a 
"lee" and landed, taking possession with 
much ceremony, and giving to the island 
the name of his flag - ship, Mariegalante. 
The shores were frmged with fragrant for- 
ests, the breezes from which came off to the 
fleet as sweet as gales from paradise; but 
another and larger island lured Columbus 
on. Three thousand feet above the sea 
yawned the crater of a cloud - capped vol- 
cano, its lower slopes and shoulders covered 
with magnificent forests, while its shores con- 
tained the villages of Indians, who fled at 
the approach of the Spaniards. In a bay 
of this island the Admiral cast anchor, and 
sent a boat ashore to find the natives. 

Fortunately for some of his company, 
who were lost in the forest several days, 
most of the Indian warriors were away on a 
145 



COLUMBUS 

war expedition to the northward. Only the 
women and children remained, but some of 
the females were so fierce, so skilled in the 
use of their barbaric weapons, fighting like 
veritable demons, that they could not be 
captured alive. Their abandoned huts were 
visited and found to contain cotton ham- 
mocks, carved calabashes, spear-heads and 
ponderous battle-axes of stone, poisoned ar- 
rows, and domesticated parrots. Here, also, 
the Spaniards found what they considered 
undoubted evidences that these newly dis- 
covered Indians were "man-eating canni- 
bals," for from the rafters of the larger huts 
hung the smoke - dried limbs and heads of 
human beings! By leaping to this conclu- 
sion that the Caribs were cannibals, Colum- 
bus fastened a stigma upon those brave peo- 
ple which for many years operated to their 
hurt. Those smoke - blackened relics which 
he found in the huts of the island called 
by the natives Turuqueira, and which he 
named Guadalupe, were merely the remains 
of their deceased relatives and ancestors, 
which they thus piously preserved in the 
manner prescribed by Carib custom. Co- 
lumbus made their alleged propensity to 
devour human beings an excuse for their 
146 



SECOND VOYAGE-FIRST SETTLEMENT 

capture and enslavement, whenever he had 
opportunity. That was not often, however, 
for the wary Caribs were rarely found off 
their guard, and, when discovered, it was 
more frequently the savage than the Span- 
iard that came off the conqueror. 

Still, the bad name clung to them; and 
moreover, says an old writer, from their 
generic name we have derived the term 
canniba, cannibal, meaning in the aboriginal 
speech a man-eater. "And finding in can- 
niba the word resembling Khan," says this 
writer, "Columbus was of the opinion that 
these pretended man-eaters were in reality 
merely subjects of the great Khan of Cathay, 
who for a long time had been scanning these 
seas in search of slaves." Thus we see Co- 
lumbus still in search of evidence to prove 
that he had arrived at the outlying posses- 
sions of the Grand Khan, for whom, in fact, 
he was seeking to the end of his days. 

Sailing onward, after leaving the island of 
the great volcano, where he beheld water- 
falls falling, as it were, out of the clouds, and 
where the first Caribs had been found in 
their native haunts, Columbus brought other 
and equally beautiful islands to view, one 
after another. Most of them were sky- 
147 



COLUMBUS 

piercing mountains, covered with virgin for- 
ests, sheltering bays, and harbors in which 
large fleets might lie at anchor. He gave 
names to all, as the caravels and carracks 
sailed past their gloomy headlands, or lay 
idle with their spars and hulls mirrored in 
calm waters. The island of Montserrat suc- 
ceeded Guadalupe, both of which he named 
after monasteries in old Spain. Nevis was 
the snow-topped mountain ; St. Christopher 
he called after himself and the fabled giant 
who bore the infant Jesus on his shoulders; 
Antigua, after a city in Spain; Redonda, 
because it is round; Santa Cruz, in memory 
of the holy cross; after which succeeded 
St. Thomas and St. John, with a great group 
northwardly which was named the Virgins, 
in memory of the good St. Ursula and her 
martyred followers. 

Thus sailed the Spaniards through that 
chain of gemlike islands, passing from one 
vision of beauty to another, lost in admira- 
tion of their charms, and yet hardly daring 
to explore them, because their destination 
was that solitary fort on Haiti's northern 
shore, to the relief of which they were hasten- 
ing. They tarried at Santa Cruz long 
enough to skirmish with some Caribs, whom 



SECOND VOYAGE-FIRST SETTLEMENT 

a boatload of sailors surprised in a canoe, 
while they gazed in wonder upon the great 
winged vessels sailing past — the first they 
had ever seen. Rounding a great rock, the 
boat dashed against the canoe and over- 
turned it, throwing the savages into the sea. 
They were not a whit dismayed, however, 
but, recovering their bows and arrows, sent 
a flight of missiles among the Spaniards, 
wounding several. One of these warriors 
was a woman, and might well have been 
queen of the Amazons, of whom Columbus 
was in search, so fierce and warlike was she. 
Half submerged in the sea as she was, 
she sent an arrow quite through a Span- 
ish target, which a sailor held up for his 
protection; while a young man with her, 
having a lion-like and savage face, did the 
same. They were only taken after their 
missiles were exhausted, weak from loss of 
blood, and even then they fought with tooth 
and nail. Even after they were on board 
ship, bound and helpless, their very aspect 
of ferocity made the timid tremble with af- 
fright. Such as these, the brave and fear- 
less rovers of the Caribbean Sea, the Admiral 
was fortunate in having avoided on his first 
voyage to the West Indies, though he had 
II 149 



COLUMBUS 

met some of the milder ones at Samana. 
Those that he took in the skirmish men- 
tioned, he sent home to Spain by the return- 
ing ships of the fleet, with a recommendation 
to Isabella that they be sold as slaves, some- 
what as a recompense for the cost of the 
expedition, and also "for the good of their 
souls." 

Near the termination of this voyage 
through the Caribbees, in which scores of 
beautiful islands had been discovered, there 
came into view one larger than the others, 
vast, forest - covered, mountainous — known 
to the natives as Borinquen, and renamed 
by Columbus, San Juan de Puerto Rico, or 
St. John of the Noble Port. The harbor 
from which this island derived its name is 
now called Aguadilla, and lies on the west 
coast of Puerto Rico — the only island of 
importance in the West Indies now belong- 
ing to the United States. The fleet watered 
here from a bountiful spring which still 
gushes forth beneath the cocoa palms, and 
then the Admiral steered across the channel 
to Hispaniola, or Haiti, the eastern coast 
of which he skimmed most hurriedly, being 
anxious to arrive at Navidad. A brief tarry 
was made, however, at the Bay of Arrows, 
150 



SECOND VOYAGE— FIRST SETTLEMENT 

where had occurred the only skirmish of 
the first voyage, and one of the Indians, 
who had then been carried to Spain, was 
here put ashore, finely clad and laden with 
gifts for the cacique, to whom he took a 
message of greeting from the Admiral. He 
disappeared, and was never seen again, 
plunging with all his finery into the great 
forest, which received him into its secret 
fastnesses. 

On, on sped the fleet, beyond the Bay of 
Arrows, passing the "Port of the Silver 
Mountain," but pausing only at Monte Cristi 
and the Rio del Oro. On the grassy bank 
of a tributary of this river, as some of the 
company were looking for gold, they found 
the corpse of a man, evidently a Spaniard, 
with a rope of Spanish grass around his neck, 
as if he had been strangled, and near him 
the body of a boy. This sad discovery was 
made when less than a day's sail distant 
from the fortress of Navidad, so that the 
gloomy apprehensions to which it gave rise 
were quickly verified. The fleet arrived off 
Guarico and Navidad after dark, on Novem- 
ber 27th. No light appeared on shore, no 
answering report came from the fort, when 
guns were fired on board the flag-ship. Only 
151 



COLUMBUS 

their echoes repHed and the stillness on 
shore was of the grave. The hours passed 
by, filled with gloom and suspense; but 
about midnight a canoe was discovered 
hovering near, and, being hailed, the Indians 
in it told a tale of disaster. They said the 
fort had been attacked by the dread Caonabo, 
cacique of the Gold stone Country, who had 
massacred every Spaniard left alive, after a 
sickness which had wasted them away. Not 
only had the fierce cacique destroyed the 
fort and Spaniards, but also the village of 
Guarico, having wounded Guacanagari and 
killed many of his people. 

Not an eye was closed in sleep that night 
on board the ships, and in the morning, be- 
fore the sun had risen above the eastern 
hills, a search was under way on the site of 
the fort. It had been burned to the ground, 
and amid its charred ruins Columbus sadly 
groped for some indication of the garrison's 
fate. Cannon were fired, soldiers were sent 
into the enclosing forest, the few Indians 
discovered were closely questioned; but all, 
all in vain. To this day the fate of Fort 
Navidad's garrison remains a mystery. By 
some it was surmised that Cacique Gua- 
canagari had instigated the massacre, and 
152 



SECOND VOYAGE— FIRST SETTLEMENT 

called Caonabo down from his mountain 
stronghold to commit the bloody deed; but 
it was probably the result of an indepen- 
dent foray by that savage chieftain of the 
Cibao country. That Guacanagari had suffi- 
cient cause for an attack upon the Spaniards, 
no apologist for them has had the hardihood 
to deny; for they ranged the villages with 
licentious intent, and deprived the chieftain 
and his subjects of provisions as well as 
of gold. Humanly speaking, they probably 
deserved their fate; but it is a saddening 
thought that the first garrison of white men 
ever left in America should have been mas- 
sacred by an outraged people in retaliation 
for atrocities they had committed. 

The fort had been plundered before it 
was set on fire, and in some of the houses 
near were found several articles which had 
belonged to the garrison, as well as an an- 
chor that had been taken from the Santa 
Maria. Caonabo had evidently tried to 
carry it off, as well as the lombards, but had 
been compelled to abandon them on ac- 
count of their weight. What became of the 
cannon we do not know; but what is sup- 
posed to have been the veritable anchor 
that was taken ashore from the wrecked 
153 



COLUMBUS 

vessel, Christmas morning, 1492, was re- 
covered near the site of the fort, by the 
writer of these Hnes, and sent for exhibition 
at the Columbian Exposition of 1893. It 
was found on a deserted plantation not far 
from Guarico, where resided the generous 
Guacanagari, who welcomed Columbus when 
in extremity, and gave him the first gold 
which he obtained in any quantity. 

Columbus could not believe in the guilt 
of Guacanagari, in connection with the mas- 
sacre of the garrison, and when, at last, he 
emerged from the forest, whither he had fled 
at the coming of the fleet, he treated him 
with consideration. He had been wounded in 
conflict with Caonabo, showing in evidence 
a contusion on his leg, which he said caused 
him great pain and had delayed his coming 
more promptly to greet his friends of the 
year before. He was shown the various 
wonders aboard the ships, including the 
horses, which amazed and terrified him 
greatly, as he had never seen any beasts 
larger than raccoons, or "dumb dogs," 
which had their habitat in Haiti. He also 
viewed the prisoners taken in the southern 
islands, including the Caribs, who appeared 
so fierce and formidable, even in their 
154 



SECOND VOYAGE — FIRST SETTLEMENT 

chains, that he trembled and shrank away 
in horror. 

There was another group, consisting 
mostly of Indian women, who had come 
aboard ship at Puerto Rico, which excited 
feelings of a different nature in his breast, 
Among them was a fine-looking maiden of 
queenly presence, to whom he spoke gently 
and frequently, as she seemed to have cap- 
tivated his heart at first sight. None of 
the Spaniards understood what they said 
to each other, but the purport of the con- 
versation may be divined from the fact that 
the next night, while the ship was wrapped 
in darkness and the crew slept, the queen 
and her companions slipped overboard and 
swam ashore. They were pursued by sail- 
ors in a boat, but, though the distance was 
several miles, they succeeded in landing and 
escaping to the forest. At the same time 
Chief Guacanagari, who had made a beacon- 
fire on shore to guide them, also disappeared 
with all his family, and was not seen again 
by the Spaniards until a long time after- 
wards. 

The gloomy termination to a voyage that 
had begun so auspiciously preyed upon the 
mind of the Admiral to such an extent that 
155 



COLUMBUS 

he could not bring himself to found a settle- 
ment at Guarico, as he had originally in- 
tended. While there were most attractive 
sites for one farther westward, such as in the 
Vale of Paradise, he chose rather to consider 
the vicinity to the gold region, Cibao, than 
natural beauty of location. So he retraced 
his course to the eastward, intending to 
land at the Port of the Silver Mountain (now 
known as Puerto Plata), which would have 
been a very desirable location. A head 
wind, however, threw him into a spacious 
though shallow harbor guarded by coral 
reefs, into which a winding river discharged 
its waters. This stream, Columbus was 
told by the Indians, had its source in the 
Cibao, or Gold stone region, to which this 
harbor was so near as to be its natural port. 
This information was sufficient to decide 
the Admiral to commence his settlement at 
this spot, though in itself it had few natu- 
ral advantages, being a great breastwork of 
coral rock in front of dense forests, with a 
white-sanded beach on one side and a river 
on the other. It was then December 7th, 
and, having been for more than ten weeks on 
board ship, the weary crews and passengers 
were anxious to get firm land beneath their 
156 



SECOND VOYAGE-FIRST SETTLEMENT 

feet. They went ashore most joyfully, and 
with alacrity set themselves to the building 
of their city. The carracks and caravels 
discharged their freightage — of soldiers, cav- 
aliers, priests, monks, horses, sheep, hogs, 
plants for cultivation, provisions, munitions, 
and articles for trade and barter — upon a 
beautiful beach between two coral bluffs. 
This beach is less than three hundred feet in 
length, curves like a scimitar, and is over- 
looked by an abrupt headland which is the 
sea-front of a wooded plain that extends 
back to the rocky hills. 

It was upon this beach Columbus landed, 
on December 7, 1493, and upon this head- 
land that he laid the foundations for the 
first European city in the New World. He 
called it Isabella, after his royal patroness, 
and erected here a church, a "king's house," 
or melting establishment, where the gold 
was assayed as it was brought from the 
mountains, and a residence for himself. 
These were built of stone obtained on the 
spot, as also was a circular, battlemented 
tower, later erected for defence. The dwell- 
ings of the settlers generally were made of 
frail material, such as reeds or palm leaves, 
plastered together with mud, and have long 
157 



COLUMBUS 

since disappeared; but the more substantial 
structures remained intact for many years, 
and not long ago could have been traced 
by their ruins and foundation-walls, though 
overgrown with tropical vegetation. 



XII 

EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF GOLD 
1494 

ISABELLA was an unfortunate settlement 
from the start, situated as it was between 
deep forests and the sea, with no means of 
access or egress save by the boats, which 
Columbus controlled. Unused as they were 
to the severe labor imposed by him, and 
attacked by the diseases so prevalent in 
a newly opened region in the tropics, the 
cavaliers, who had come out with great hopes 
and high expectations, soon became disheart- 
ened, then rebellious. A sedition was start- 
ed which became very serious. It was pro- 
moted by the Pope's apostolic vicar, Father 
Boyle, who was at the head of the first 
religious establishment in the New World, 
and who felt the exactions imposed upon one 
of his importance by the Admiral. In fact, 
almost the entire company was disposed to 
murmur, even rebel, against this "upstart 
159 



COLUMBUS 

of a foreigner," Columbus, who had drawn 
them into the wilderness by his exaggerated 
stories of wealth untold within the secret 
recesses of the interior. They had ex- 
pected to find the precious metal lying 
about on the ground, and with their little 
stores of trinkets had hoped to barter with 
the natives so profitably to themselves that 
they should be able to return to Spain in a 
few months with wealth to suffice them a 
lifetime. Instead, they were compelled to 
toil at menial tasks, to build forts and dwell- 
ings, even to cook their own food, while the 
elusive gold still remained in possession of 
Mother Nature. As the city had been 
planted by Columbus solely with a view to 
its nearness to the gold region, and as his 
enemies would prove to the crown that he 
had committed a blunder at the outset 
unless he could produce vast quantities of 
the precious metal, he sent expeditions in 
search of it as soon as circumstances would 
warrant him in doing so. 

Behold, then, the first of the gold -hunting 
parties that ever penetrated the interior of 
Hispaniola and found the grains and nug- 
gets in their beds of sand and gravel. It 
was commanded by a reckless and daring 
i6o 



EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF GOLD 

adventurer, Alonzo de Ojeda, who made a 
name for himself in the annals of early 
America, and who was the first to come into 
personal contact with that valiant cacique 
who had massacred the garrison at Navidad, 
Caonabo the Carib. He lived in the moun- 
tains of the Cibao (which Columbus still be- 
lieved might be the veritable Cipango), and 
his title, by which the Indians knew him, 
of "Lord of the Golden House," indicated 
the opulence of his kingdom. 

Behold Ojeda and his little band of daring 
cavaliers as they sallied forth from Isabella 
forded the river, and sped across the fruitful 
plains that extended from the sea-coast to 
the mountains. Mounted on neighing steeds, 
like themselves eager for a dash into the 
country; clad in corselets of steel, with hel- 
mets on their heads and swords on their 
hips, they presented a terrible spectacle to 
the innocent Indians, whose peaceful villages 
were scattered over the plain, and who fled 
in wild terror before them. These primitive 
people had never seen white men before, they 
had never seen horses before, and they mis- 
took beast and rider for a terrible monster 
which had come up from its lair in the ocean 
to ravage and destroy. 
i6i 



COLUMBUS 

The rugged mountains were crossed, the 
valley of the Yaqui was reached, and in the 
sands of its headwaters Ojeda and his com- 
rades found nuggets and grains of gold, with 
which they returned to Columbus, and which 
he sent back to Spain in the seven ships 
that sailed on February 2, 1494. With them 
went a promise that the next shipment 
should be at least a ton, for the riches of 
the country seemed inexhaustible. But the 
sovereigns would not always content them- 
selves with promises; the enemies of the 
Admiral were already at work undermining 
his reputation at home. The gold could 
only be obtained by toilsome marches into a 
hostile country; but there was a source of 
profit ready at hand, in the natives of the 
islands, some of whom he sent back in the 
returning ships to be sold as slaves. 

There were more Caribs (whom he con- 
veniently branded as "cannibals") than was 
good for the peace of the country; but if 
they could be exchanged for cattle and horses, 
of which the settlement was greatly in need, 
a double purpose might be achieved. "The 
royal treasury would be greatly enriched, 
and a vast number of souls would be snatched 
from perdition, and carried, as it were, by 
162 



EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF GOLD 

main force to heaven!" The Queen did not 
approve of this means of reimbursing the 
crown for its outlay ; but it was a long time 
before Columbus learned of her decision, 
and meanwhile he went forth on another 
expedition, ostensibly for gold, but with the 
intention of making captives of Caonabo 
and his ferocious subjects. 

The many vexations attendant upon the 
founding of the settlement and the pacifica- 
tion of the malcontents had caused Colum- 
bus to fall seriously ill ; but on his recovery 
he organized the second expedition, consist- 
ing of all the soldiers and cavaliers who 
could bear arms and endure the rigors of a 
march into and through the rugged moun- 
tain country. The total population of Isa- 
bella at this time was about one thousand 
men, and, leaving behind the sick and the 
laborers, Columbus selected about five hun- 
dred of the choicest spirits for this expedi- 
tion, which he was to command in person. 
They marched across the plain, rejoicing to 
escape their irksome confinement amid the 
forests and mangrove swamps, and, with 
banners flying, drums beating, and trum- 
pets sending forth their inspiring sounds, 
penetrated the obscurity of the forests, which 
163 



COLUMBUS 

glittered with helm and corselet, lance and 
sword and arquebuse. That was the first 
day's march; the second took them through 
the Yaqui mountain range, where the en- 
thusiastic cavaliers opened a road which to 
this day bears the name they gave it of el 
Puerto de los Hidalgos, or the Gentlemen's 
Pass. 

The Spaniards who marched through the 
defile cleared by the cavaliers then saw 
before them the magnificent valley of the 
Yaqui, where verdant plain and sombre for- 
est alternated, strung upon a noble river's 
silver chain. They did not know it, they 
were not then aware of it, but this was the 
same river seen by Columbus in January, 
the year before, and named by him the Rio 
del Oro, because of the golden flakes which 
clung to his water-casks, and which gave 
promise of a rich country to be found at or 
near its source. Two days longer they con- 
tinued their march, meeting everywhere 
with hospitality from the natives, who lived 
here in peace and contentment. They were 
at first afraid of the terrible horses, and of 
the men in shining armor; but when once 
their confidence was won they were only too 
glad to serve the invading strangers and place 
164 



EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF GOLD 

before them all the wealth of their homes and 
their mines. 

On the evening of the second day the 
Spaniards had reached the confines of the 
Cibao, a stony and mountainous region, the 
crystal streams of which ran over sands 
glistening with gold. Convinced that he 
was now at the portal of the Golden House — 
though he had seen no evidences of its lord's 
existence — Columbus concluded to penetrate 
the interior no farther, but to erect here a 
fort to serve as an outpost on the frontier. 
He chose a headland half surrounded by a 
river, in the bed of which he found jasper, 
porphyry, and grains of gold. Here he raised 
a wooden tower, which was protected in 
front by the curving stream, and in rear by 
a moat. This, the second fort erected in 
the wilds, was called Santo Tomas de Yanico, 
or St. Thomas of the River Yanique. 

While the fort was in process of construc- 
tion an active exploration of the surround- 
ing region went on, and glowing reports of 
its richness were brought in daily. When 
the Indians learned the desire of the white 
strangers to obtain gold, they ran to the 
rivers, and, sifting the sands, brought in a 
large supply. One nugget was discovered 
la 165 



COLUMBUS 

nine ounces in weight, and for another 
weighing an ounce the Indian who found it 
considered himself richly rewarded by re- 
ceiving a hawk's-bell in exchange. 

When completed, the fort was placed in 
charge of Pedro Margarite, a knight of the 
noble order of Santiago, and under him were 
left fifty -six men of mettle. Then Columbus 
leisurely returned to Isabella, lingering by 
the way to cultivate friendly relations with 
the natives; but hardly had he reached the 
coast than a messenger from Margarite was 
at his heels, with the startling tidings that 
the Indians of the mountains had suddenly 
become unfriendly and were withdrawing 
from the vicinity of the fort. The fate of 
Navidad's devoted garrison, it would seem, 
must have been forgotten by the soldiers of 
St. Thomas, for no sooner had the Admiral 
left them than they gave themselves up to 
the same passions that had wrought the de- 
struction of their compatriots under Diego 
de Arana. Columbus sent them a reinforce- 
ment of fifty men, and this served tempo- 
rarily to deter the hostiles; but the fire 
kindled by Spanish atrocities was smoulder- 
ing, and the fierce Caonabo was already 
massing his warriors for a descent upon the 
i66 



EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF GOLD 

fort. He had kept ominously silent since 
the massacre at Navidad, even holding aloof 
when his territory was invaded by the Span- 
iards; but they were soon to hear from him, 
soon to learn that not all the caciques were 
like the timid Guacanagari. 

In order to relieve the congested condition 
of the city at the coast, and to give scope 
for the enterprise of his chafing cavaliers, 
Columbus decided to dispose the bulk of his 
troops in the interior, where he could not 
only be supported by the natives, but con- 
duct a protracted search for gold. So he 
sent the first detachment, a little army of 
about four hundred men, under Alonzo de 
Ojeda, to relieve Margarite, who was instruct- 
ed to make a military tour of the island. 
Ojeda was a gallant but headstrong soldier, 
and learning, while on the way, that some 
Spaniards had been robbed by Indians at a 
ford of the Yaqui, he seized the thieves, cut 
off their ears, and sent them, together with 
their cacique, who had shielded them, to 
Columbus for further punishment. The Ad- 
miral had them conducted in chains to the 
public square of Isabella, where, after mak- 
ing a pretence of preparing for their execu- 
tion, he released them, with an admonition 
167 



COLUMBUS 

to behave better in the future. This act of 
Ojeda's was perhaps the first recorded one 
of deliberate cruelty towards the Indians by 
the Spaniards; but it was to be followed by 
innumerable others. 

Having in mind his obligations to the 
crown relating to the discovery of new lands, 
as well as the founding of settlements, Co- 
lumbus set sail, on the last week of April, 
1494, for the purpose of finishing his ex- 
ploration of Cuba's southern coast. He 
left the settlement in charge of his brother, 
Diego, and, with three caravels, departed in 
search of new adventures and new lands. 
During this voyage he suffered many hard- 
ships and made many interesting discover- 
ies ; but we will not immediately follow him, 
for occurrences in Hispaniola more urgently 
claim our attention. Captain Margarite, to 
whom Columbus had sent a letter of advice, 
cautioning him to deal gently with the Ind- 
ians, and by no means to mistreat them, 
from the very first departed from the course 
recommended by his superior, and committed 
arbitrary acts that caused a rebellion which 
became almost universal. 

We have thus far dealt with only two of 
the five caciques, or great chiefs, who ruled 
168 



EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF GOLD 

the natives of Hispaniola at the coming of 
Columbus; but there were several others in 
that island, which was called by them Babeque 
or Qisqueya. They held their office by he- 
reditary rights, and each was absolute with- 
in his own territory, except that Caonabo 
frequently invaded the districts of the coast. 
The first cacique to be encountered by the 
Spaniards — as we have already noticed — 
was the unfortunate Guacanagari, who held 
sway over the northwestern part of the 
island, or in what is now known as Haiti, 
and near whose town of Guarico the Santa 
Maria was wrecked. At the Yaqui River 
began the possessions of another cacique, 
Guarionex, extending eastward probably as 
far as the Bay of Samana. The third cacique- 
dom was ruled by the savage Caonabo, 
whose capital was at Managua, on the 
southern slopes of the Cibao Mountains. 
The fourth province belonged to Cotuba- 
nama, and was called Higuey or Ciguey. It 
was with warriors from this province, prob- 
ably, that the Spaniards had their first 
skirmish, at the Bay of Arrows, in the month 
of January, 1493, when on their homeward 
voyage. The fifth and last province to be 
mentioned was known as Xaragua, compris- 
169 



COLUMBUS 

ing all the western and southwestern por- 
tions of the island. It was very populous, 
and under the sway of Cacique Behechio, 
whose sister was Caonabo's wife, and cele- 
brated for her beauty. In all, it was esti- 
mated, more than a million Indians occupied 
this great and beautiful island, where they 
lived in comparative peace and content, until 
so rudely disturbed by the Spaniards. 

Although Columbus himself was indirectly 
responsible for the atrocities which ended 
only in the complete extinction of these 
people, yet it was Margarite who commenced 
the course of action which really brought 
about their rebellious conduct and eventual 
enslavement. Instead of making a well- 
regulated tour of military exploration, he 
conducted his soldiers to the most populous 
and agreeable villages of the interior, where 
he quartered them upon the people, whom 
he plundered without mercy. When their 
complaints reached Don Diego Columbus, he 
sent a remonstrance, which was unheeded 
by Margarite, who at last became wearied 
of dwelling in the wilderness and departed 
for Isabella. There he found powerful par- 
tisans among the cavaliers, who also induced 
the head ecclesiastic, Father Boyle, to take 
170 



EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF GOLD 

sides with them. The upshot of the mat- 
ter was that Margarite, Boyle, and others of 
the disaffected, seized some ships in the har- 
bor and departed in them for Spain, to lay 
their grievances before the Crown, 

Left without a commander, the soldiers 
formerly under Margarite split up into rov- 
ing bands of robbers, wandering over the 
country in search of plunder, and committing 
such terrible excesses that even the mild 
and patient Indians were provoked to re- 
taliation. Finding the Spaniards in small 
parties, scattered here and there, they fell 
upon them with overwhelming numbers and 
put many to death. Chief Guatiguana, a 
subcacique within the territory of Guari- 
onex, was the first to show the natives their 
strength, by killing ten licentious soldiers 
who had forced themselves upon his people, 
and then setting fire to a hut containing 
forty-six more. The Indians flocked to his 
standard and invested the little fort of 
Magdalena, which had been built in the 
neighborhood of what is now Santiago. 
But the most formidable enemy of the 
Spaniards who then took the field was the 
redoubtable Caonabo, from whom alone they 
had expected trouble, and who secretly and 
171 



COLUMBUS 

suddenly descended upon the fort of St. 
Thomas. 

He and ten thousand of his warriors, 
armed with bows and arrows, stone -headed 
lances and war-clubs, surrounded the fort 
and attempted to carry it by storm. But 
they had in Ojeda a wary as well as coura- 
geous foe to deal with, one who had received 
his war-training in conflict with the Moors. 
He and his men were alert, and, intrenched 
within their moat - surrounded tower, well 
provisioned and armed, they bade the Carib 
chief defiance. Finding it impossible to take 
the fort by assault, Caonabo finally settled 
down to a siege, and for thirty days main- 
tained so close an investment of this isolated 
tower in the wilderness with his savage 
warriors, that its occupants were reduced to 
the verge of famine. 

During this investment, many were the 
forays the daring Ojeda led from the fort, in 
which he defeated every art and stratagem 
of the savage, and, amid flights of darts and 
arrows, bore himself so bravely that he won 
the rude chief's admiration. Neither pre- 
vailed in open combat, however, and at last 
the Carib wearied of the siege and drew off 
his forces to the mountains. 
172 



EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF GOLD 

The sequel to this strange encounter fol- 
lowed after the return of the Admiral from 
Cuba, several months later; but we cannot 
do better than refer to it here, on account 
of the bearing it has upon the chivalrous 
daring of Ojeda and the innate nobility of 
Caonabo. The latter retired from the fort, 
but after a brief rest at his capital returned 
to ravage the territory adjacent to Isabella. 
Accompanied by his brother-in-law, Behe- 
chio, cacique of Xaragua, he successively 
visited all the caciques of the island, and 
organized an offensive league against the 
Spaniards. All except Guacanagari joined 
the league; but he, recreant to fraternal ob- 
ligations and ties of blood, not only refused 
to assist, but informed Columbus of the 
conspiracy. But for him it might have 
succeeded, for it was wide-spread, and the 
movements of its organizers were veiled in 
secrecy. When they learned of his betray- 
al, Caonabo and Behechio made a descent 
upon his capital, killed some of his wives 
and relatives, and carried away others into 
captivity; but the misguided chieftain still 
remained devoted to the Spaniards, and 
thereby hastened his end. 

Captain Ojeda was in Isabella at the time 
173 



COLUMBUS 

Caonabo was ravaging the country, and, 
being appealed to by Columbus, he offered 
to deliver the Carib into his hands, dead or 
alive. Taking with him ten companions, as 
rash and daring as himself, he plunged into 
the trackless forests beyond St. Thomas, 
and finally reached the stronghold of his 
foe, by whom he was warmly received, 
without a thought of treachery. This strong- 
hold was at Maguana, on the southern slopes 
of the Cibao Mountains. Caonabo was 
promised, if he would return with his visit- 
ors, the bell that hung in the church- tower 
at Isabella. As he had heard its clear, 
mellow tones ringing through the forest 
when prowling about the settlement, he 
greatly desired to possess it, and consented 
to accompany Ojeda to the coast. But his 
warriors were also to go, he said ; and several 
thousand assembled for the purpose. 

Ojeda was puzzled, but he met the situa- 
tion, and soon found means for accomplish- 
ing his purpose by stratagem. As they were 
encamped on the bank of the river Yegua. 
one day, he exhibited to Caonabo a pair of 
handcuffs, made of steel, but bright as sil- 
ver, which, he told the chief, were royal or- 
naments sent him by the King, To obtain 
174 



EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF GOLD 

them properly, he must first slip them on 
his wrists, then mount behind the Spaniard 
on his horse. The unsuspicious Indian com- 
plied, and, having thus rendered his foe de- 
fenceless, the artful Ojeda clapped spurs to 
his steed, and away they went, on a mad 
race through the forest. The warriors raced 
after them, but Ojeda's comrades beat them 
back with their swords, then closed about 
their leader, and swept down towards the 
coast. The journey was long and dangerous, 
but that strange cavalcade accomplished it 
in safety, and at its ending Ojeda delivered 
his captive to Columbus, by whom he was 
placed in a dungeon. He was kept there 
many months, and throughout his captivity 
invariably greeted his captor with deference, 
but treated the Admiral with contempt, say- 
ing one was a brave warrior, the other a 
coward. 



XIII 

JAMAICA DISCOVERED 
1494 

LEAVING Isabella in three caravels, on 
rf April 24, 1494, Columbus revisited Monte 
Cristi and Navidad, thence standing away 
for Cape May si, the eastern end of Cuba 
and his point of departure for Haiti on the 
previous voyage. Coasting the shores of 
Cuba westerly from Maysi, he discovered 
a magnificent, lakelike harbor, which he 
called Puerto Grande, but which now bears 
its native name of Guantanamo, and is oc- 
cupied as a naval station by the United 
States of America. He remained here sev- 
eral days, trafficking with the natives, who 
were so amazed at the sight of the great 
winged vessels that they crowded to the 
shores by thousands, and so generous that 
they gave the Spaniards freely all they had. 
At one spot within the harbor-mouth, the 
latter found large quantities of fish, iguanas, 
176 



JAMAICA DISCOVERED 

and utias suspended in the smoke of fires 
kindled on the ground, and, being half fam- 
ished, they devoured them to their bones, 
without exciting the ire of the Indians, who 
seemed greatly pleased that the strangers 
should have enjoyed the banquet they were 
preparing for themselves. They went off to 
their gardens in the forest and returned with 
cassava, delicious fruits, and calabashes of 
water, which they offered these beings, whom 
they regarded as descended from the skies. 

Beyond Guantanamo (passing by that 
stretch of coast made famous in the Span- 
ish-American War of 1898), Columbus spied 
the entrance to another harbor, the peer- 
less port of Santiago de Cuba, where a 
settlement was made twenty years later by 
Velasquez, and whence, in 15 18, Cortes 
sailed forth for his conquest of Mexico. He 
did not explore the shores of its beautiful 
bay, though the natives were numerous and 
hospitable, but, learning from them that 
Baheque, the country of gold, lay farther to 
the south, he soon set out in quest of it. 

Departing from the coast of Cuba, May 3d, 

standing boldly out into the open sea, he 

soon brought to view the towering peaks 

of Jamaica's central mountain chain. The 

177 



COLUMBUS 

highest of these peaks rises to an altitude of 
seventy - three hundred feet, the crowning 
pinnacle of a multitude of others, sheltering 
within their forest-covered ridges more than 
a hundred beautiful valleys, each one with 
a stream embowered in tropic vegetation. 
The harbors on its north coast were as nu- 
merous as in Cuba, and from one of them 
darted out to meet the fleet a gigantic canoe, 
leading a convoy of seventy more, filled with 
savages decked with war-paint and adorned 
with feathers. They saluted the Spanish 
ships with fierce yells and gestures, brandish- 
ing their lances and shooting arrows, so 
Columbus stood off from shore, and later 
made another harbor, which he called Santa 
Maria. Here he was saluted by another party 
of naked savages, many of whom were paint- 
ed black, their heads covered with gay 
feathers. They disputed the entrance of 
the caravels into the harbor (where they 
were to be careened and overhauled), and 
Columbus ordered out the small boats, the 
soldiers in which dispersed the Indians by a 
discharge of arrows from their cross-bows. 
Then they landed and let loose upon the 
fleeing savages a fierce blood-hound, which 
overtook and mangled a large number before 
178 



JAMAICA DISCOVERED 

its fury was appeased. This is the first 
instance, it is said, of a blood-hound being 
used against the Indians of America; but it 
was not the last, sad to relate, for thousands 
of poor wretches afterwards met horrible 
deaths through being torn to pieces by this 
loathsome beast. Blood - hounds were last 
used in Jamaica, for the purpose of hunting 
human beings, nearly three hundred years 
later, when a pack was imported from Cuba 
to aid English soldiers in tracing the maroons, 
or runaway negroes, to their lairs in the Blue 
Mountains. 

The Indians of Jamaica were more warlike 
than any others Columbus had met, except 
the Caribs of the Lesser Antilles, whom they 
greatly resembled. Like them, they per- 
formed long voyages in canoes, some of which 
were nearly a hundred feet in length, by 
eight or ten in breadth. They were hollowed 
from the trunks of gigantic ceiba trees, the 
wood of which is soft and easily hewn with 
the rude stone implements possessed by 
the Indians. Columbus called this magnifi- 
cent island Santiago, but it is yet known 
by its aboriginal name Xamatca, or Land of 
Springs and Streams. He coasted the north 
shore westward as far as Montego Bay, 
179 



COLUMBUS 

which he called Buentiempo, or Fairweath- 
er Gulf, and whence, the wind being unfa- 
vorable for further coasting, he set sail once 
again for Cuba. On May i8th the glori- 
ous peak of Turquino rose, pinnacle - like, 
above the clouds, and then a headland ap- 
peared, which the Admiral called Cape Cruz, 
a name it still retains. This was the third 
approach he had made to Cuba, and he still 
believed it to be a continent, rather than an 
island, as he sailed in and out of deep gulfs 
and bays, the misty shores stretching inter- 
minably before him. Westward from Cape 
Cruz he became entangled in that labyrinth 
of isles and islets which still bears the name 
he gave it of Los Jar dines de la Reina, or 
Gardens of the Queen. With their shores 
of coral, lofty forests, and verdurous as- 
pect generally, they so much resembled the 
Asiatic archipelago described by Marco Polo, 
that Columbus was more than ever convinced 
he had reached the outposts of Asia. 

Fragrant, spicy odors were wafted to his 
caravels from off shore; vast flocks of fla- 
mingoes and other brilliantly colored birds 
winged their way above the strands, or 
stood, statue-like, on sands and reefs, while 
the waters were alive with fish of rainbow 



JAMAICA DISCOVERED 

colors, vying with the parrots and humming- 
birds in hue. Columbus was amazed at the 
wonders he saw, but nothing interested him 
more than the native method of fishing with 
a fish. Instead of using hooks and lines, the 
Indians tied a supple vine to the tail of a 
peculiar fish called the remora, the head of 
which is furnished with sucking-disks, by- 
means of which it attaches itself to whatever 
it meets. Not only the smaller fish were 
taken in this manner, but (according to Co- 
lumbus) sharks and sea-turtles. 

Whatever they had at the time Columbus 
met them, the natives of these islands gener- 
ously gave him: fish, parrots, "dumb dogs" 
(now extinct) , and wood-pigeons of delicious 
flavor, on account of the spices upon which 
they fed. In this manner voyaging, now 
threading the mazes of far-stretching archi- 
pelagoes, now the guests of hospitable Ind- 
ians, the Spaniards sailed almost to the 
western end of Cuba; but turned about a 
little too soon to discover its insular char- 
acter. When, one day, an archer who had 
strayed into the wilds came running back 
with the report that he had seen men clothed 
in long, white garments, who had flitted like 
ghosts among the trees, but whom his fears 
13 i8i 



COLUMBUS . 

had prevented him from accosting, Colum- 
bus was convinced that he had arrived on 
the confines of a civilized country, probably 
the famous Mangi, the richest of the Grand 
Khan's Oriental provinces. Nothing further 
was seen of these "men in white garments," 
however, by the party that was sent in 
search of them, and they were probably 
merely white cranes, or herons, which the 
imagination of the archer had distorted into 
human shapes. 

Columbus had visions of a voyage around 
the "Golden Peninsula," across the Indian 
Ocean, to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, 
provided he could continue on far enough to 
the westward ; but his three caravels were in- 
sufficient for such a voyage — their seams had 
opened, their rigging and cables were worn — 
so he was persuaded to abandon the attempt. 
But it was necessary, in order to sustain his 
contention that he had really arrived at the 
eastern coast of Asia, to receive some confir- 
mation of the fact from his fellow- voyagers, 
so he compelled them all to sign a paper to 
this effect, drawn up by the notary of the 
fleet. They all made deposition, from the 
Admiral down to the cabin-boys, that they 
had no doubt whatever that Cuba was a con- 



JAMAICA DISCOVERED 

tinent, the "beginning and ending of Asia"; 
and whoever should recant, if an officer, 
should incur a penalty of ten thousand mara- 
vedis, or, if of inferior rank, should receive 
a hundred lashes and have his tongue cut 
out. As Columbus attested, and compelled 
his sailors to attest, so he really believed, 
even to the day of his death, that, instead of 
discovering a country entirely new and un- 
known, he had found the way to the eastern 
coast of the Old World. Thus he belittled 
his own discovery, and went around chasing 
a will-o'-the-wisp; which should prove a 
warning to those who would make every- 
thing conform to a theory. 

This paper was drawn up and signed while 
the voyagers were in the waters subsequent- 
ly called the Sea of Cortes, sailing southward 
from which they discovered a lofty island 
which Columbus named Evangelista, now 
the Isle of Pines, where they anchored and 
took in supplies of wood and water. Bearing 
up again towards the coast of Cuba, they 
retraced their course to an Indian settlement 
at the mouth of a fine river, the cacique of 
which received them joyously. His subjects 
brought in from the country vast stores of 
provisions, such as utias, pigeons, cassava 
183 



COLUMBUS 

bread, and delicious fruits. After the Span- 
iards had feasted to their hearts' content, 
they held religious services in a natural 
grove, and the cacique was profoundly im- 
pressed. After they were over, he addressed 
Columbus as follows: "I am told that thou 
hast lately come to these lands with a mighty 
force, and hast subdued many countries, 
spreading great fear among the people; but 
be not, therefore, vainglorious. Know thou 
that, according to our belief, the souls of 
men have two journeys to perform after 
they have departed from the body: one to a 
place dismal, foul, covered with darkness, 
prepared for such as have been unjust and 
cruel to their fellow-men; the other full of 
delights, for such as have promoted peace on 
earth. If, then, thou art mortal, and dost 
expect to die, beware that thou hurt no 
man wrongfully, neither do harm to those 
who have done no harm to thee." 

This speech was interpreted by a young 
Lucayan Indian, one who had been taken 
by Columbus on his first voyage, and who 
had been named after his brother, Diego 
Colon. The Admiral was deeply moved, ap- 
parently, by the true spirit of Christianity 
manifested by this simple savage, and it 
184 



JAMAICA DISCOVERED 

would have been well had his precepts sunk 
into his heart. But, as the near sequel will 
show, he must have quickly forgotten them, 
for his conduct towards the natives of His- 
paniola was not in accord with their 
spirit. No one dwelling in those islands 
had ever done harm to Columbus, yet he 
brought upon those gentle, peace - loving 
Indians all the horrors of a devastating 
war. 

After having been entertained several 
days by the hospitable cacique, Columbus 
departed for Cape Cruz, on the way encoun- 
tering a gale which threw his vessels on their 
beam ends, so violent was the wind, which 
continued contrary for nearly a week. As 
he could not, on account of it, immediately 
return to Hispaniola, he stood across the 
sea-channel to Jamaica, where, for nearly a 
month, he beat along its southern coast, 
ever sailing easterly by day, and making 
harbor every night. Like many others who 
have followed in his course around that 
magnificent island, he was lost in admiration 
of its beauties, and filled with a desire to 
explore its unknown interior. 

From one of the harbors, on a morning 
about the last of July, the Spaniards saw 
185 



COLUMBUS 

three great canoes come out to meet them. 
The largest canoe, which was carved, and dec- 
orated in bright colors, contained a native 
cacique and his family, consisting of his wife 
and several sons and daughters. The young 
men were stalwart, and the girls were models 
of grace and beauty, though all were naked, 
wearing only caps and tufts of feathers. 
In the prow of the canoe stood their standard- 
bearer, waving aloft a white banner, while 
other Indians beat lustily on native drums 
hollowed out of logs and covered with skins. 
The cacique and his family all wore golden 
ornaments and carried presents in their 
hands, which they gave to the Admiral as 
they stepped aboard his caravel. While his 
wife and the maidens stood modestly by, he 
addressed Columbus, saying: "My friend, I 
have determined to leave my country and 
go with thee to thine. For thou hast de- 
stroyed the canoes and dwellings of the 
Caribs, slaying their warriors, and carrying 
their wives and children into captivity. All 
the islands are in dread of thee. Rather, 
therefore, than thou shouldst take away my 
dominions, I will embark with all my house- 
hold in thy ships, and will go to do homage to 
thy King and Queen, and to behold thy 
i86 



JAMAICA DISCOVERED 

country, of which thy Indians relate to me 
such wonders." 

Those simple savages, naked as they were, 
considered themselves fit for voyaging any- 
where, and were greatly disappointed when 
Columbus told them that, while he received 
them as vassals of his sovereigns, yet could 
not take them with him, on account of the 
crowded condition of his ships. They re- 
turned to their canoes in sadness; but if 
they had only known what perils they es- 
caped, from what bondage they were saved, 
they would have departed with thanksgiv- 
ings. This incident enlivened the monotony 
of the voyage along the southern coast some- 
what, and shortly after Columbus took his 
departure from the eastern end of Jamaica 
(now known as Point Morant), and steered 
across another unknown channel. He was, 
it should be remembered, feeling his way 
along from island to island, and from cape 
to promontory, without chart to guide or 
pilot to direct, through waters absolutely 
unknown and unexplored. When, therefore, 
he arrived off the southern shores of Haiti, 
he had coasted a long distance before he 
became aware it was the same island from 
which he had departed four months before. 
187 



COLUMBUS 

One day, August 23d, an Indian came 
aboard his caravel and addressed him in 
Spanish, by which token he knew that His- 
paniola had been reached at last. Then 
the terrible fatigues he had suffered, the 
strain of watching day and night through 
weary months, combined to cause a collapse, 
and, now that the long suspense was over, he 
fell into a stupor of exhaustion. The navi- 
gation of his ship was left to the crew, who, 
seeing their commander plunged into a death- 
like lethargy, from which there seemed no 
possibility of his awaking, set all sail for Is- 
abella, finally arriving in port with their 
unconscious charge, in the last week in 
September. 



XIV 

SUBJUGATION OF THE INDIANS 
1495-1496 

THE writing of this chapter is a painful 
task for one who admires the elevated 
character of Columbus in the abstract, who 
recognizes his innate nobility, high aspi- 
rations, and dignified composure under re- 
peated reverses; but the verities of history 
are inexorable. They impose upon the his- 
torian and biographer obligations which 
cannot be evaded; hence we are compelled 
to record, not only that Christopher Colum- 
bus initiated the system of tribute that 
hastened the extinction of the Indians, but 
laid the foundations for human slavery in 
the West Indies. 

The occurrences which contributed to the 
first great crime of Columbus transpired in 
the city of Isabella, whither he had been 
taken in a state of insensibility, and where, 
when he recovered consciousness, he was 
189 



COLUMBUS 

rejoiced to the heart to find at his bed- 
side his noble brother, Bartholomew. This 
brother, who will henceforth be intimately- 
associated with the Admiral, had been sent 
(as will be recalled) to solicit the assistance 
of Henry VII. of England, when Christopher 
was vainly pleading with the sovereigns of 
Spain. Captured by a corsair while on his 
way to England, several years elapsed before 
he made his appearance at King Henry's 
court, and by the time he reached Spain, 
with the royal assent, his brother had al- 
ready returned from his first voyage, had 
bound its laurels upon his brow, and sailed 
on his second, followed by the acclaim of 
the world. Bartholomew shared in the 
favors bestowed by the sovereigns of Spain 
upon his more famous brother, and, being an 
expert seaman, was furnished by them with 
a fleet of three vessels laden with supplies 
for Isabella, at which settlement he arrived 
soon after Christopher had departed for 
Cuba and Jamaica. 

There were then three Columbus brothers 
in Isabella, but of them all Don Bartholo- 
mew was the most richly endowed with the 
qualities for leadership, and, recognizing his 
worth, Christopher invested him with the 
190 



SUBJUGATION OF THE INDIANS 

title of adelantado, or (as he was then styled) 
lieutenant - governor. The third brother, 
Don Diego, was less capable than the other 
two, and, the sovereigns having sent a request 
for some one to appear before them to ex- 
plain the Admiral's charts and maps, at the 
conference about to be held with Portugal 
for adjusting the line of demarcation be- 
tween the poles, he was despatched for that 
purpose to Spain. By the same ship, which 
sailed in the latter part of 1494, were sent 
about five hundred Indians — men, women, 
and children — taken in various raids through- 
out the country, with the suggestion that 
they be sold as slaves in the market of 
Seville. 

It is related that Queen Isabella forbade 
this sale, and ordered the Indians sent back 
to Hispaniola; but this is doubtful, as she 
had, only a few years before, sanctioned 
selling into slavery thousands of Moors, 
including women of refinement, babes, and 
children, without giving evidence of any 
compunctions whatever. Columbus, of 
course, was aware of this, and he also knew 
that part of the expenses of his second voy- 
age was paid from the pillage of the Jews, 
who likewise were treated more like beasts 
191 



COLUMBUS 

than human beings. He saw, then, no ob- 
jection to the sovereigns reimbursing them- 
selves (and incidentally their "Admiral of 
the Ocean Sea") from the proceeds of the 
slave mart, even though he could not urge 
that these human chattels were cannibals — 
which was his lame excuse in the case of the 
Caribs. Disappointed in the scant returns 
from his pillaging expeditions, and goaded 
by the threats and murmurs of exasperated 
cavaliers, soldiers, and clergy, Columbus 
resolved to make at least one desperate 
effort to obtain the gold with which the 
country was reported to abound. 

By the middle of March, 1495, his health 
had sufficiently recovered to permit him to 
take the field, especially as he could rely upon 
Don Bartholomew to assist him with his 
military skill in event of an emergency. 
Learning, then, that a brother of Caonabo, 
named Manicaotex (his successor to com- 
mand on the occasion of his capture), had 
assembled a mighty force for an assault upon 
Isabella, Columbus made immediate prepa- 
rations for active warfare. With the aid of 
his brother, he mustered his little army, now 
reduced to less than two hundred and fifty 
men, including twenty cavalry, and marched 
192 



SUBJUGATION OF THE INDIANS 

up the valley of the Yaqui. There they 
found the savages assembled, to the esti- 
mated number of one hundred thousand. 
But, whatever their number, they were of 
no account whatever when opposed to the 
Spaniards. With their naked bodies and 
primitive weapons, such as pikes and bows 
and arrows, they were utterly defenceless 
when the mail-clad soldiers charged upon 
them, armed with swords, lances, cross- 
bows, arquebuses, and espingardas, or big 
muskets, which were sometimes mounted on 
wheels, like small cannon. 

Guacanagari went with Columbus, and an 
array of warriors ; but he was useless in the 
fight that followed, for he was completely 
demoralized by the two chief allies of the 
Spaniards, the horses and the blood-hounds. 
The horses took their riders into the thick 
of the fight, bearing down the naked warriors 
like standing grain before a gale; while the 
fierce blood-hounds, twenty in number, sprang 
upon the terrified Indians and tore them to 
pieces. If, indeed, Columbus were the kind 
and compassionate man his apologists rep- 
resent him, he might have dispensed with 
the blood-hounds. He might, in truth, have 
avoided any encounter whatever with the 
193 



COLUMBUS 

peaceful natives of Hispaniola, for they were 
all, with some few exceptions, gentle and 
trustworthy, like the unfortunate Guacana- 
gari, who retired from this field of carnage 
broken-hearted, and soon after disappeared, 
having been driven by the Spaniards to the 
mountains, where he perished miserably. 
The outcome of this battle — as it was vaunt- 
ingly called by Columbus — may be easily 
imagined. Thousands were slain, the Ind- 
ians flying at the first attack, followed by 
the cruel Spaniards, who butchered them 
without mercy, and the revolting work was 
finished by the blood-hounds. The field was 
covered with the mangled bodies of men 
who had died in defence of their native soil, 
invaded by these monsters in the name of 
civilization and religion — and commanded by 
Christopher Columbus! 

This causeless massacre was committed 
in a region which is a very paradise of beauty. 
In the centre of a rolling plain, known as 
the Royal Vega, and so vast that it is bound- 
ed only by the horizon and distant moun- 
tains, stands a hill six hundred feet in height, 
called the Sacro Monte (Holy Mount). From 
its summit Columbus is said to have viewed 
the battle - field and directed the battle, 
194 



SUBJUGATION OF THE INDIANS 

standing beneath a medlar-tree, the gnarled 
trunk and jagged branches of which still 
remind us of the horrible circumstance. 
Here he caused a cross to be erected, in 
memory of a massacre which should consign 
its perpetrators to everlasting infamy; here 
he gave thanks for a victory which broke the 
spirits of those innocent Indians, and con- 
demned them to a form of slavery which 
ended only in their complete extermination. 
Thus the province of the Cacique Guari- 
onex came under the hoof. He submitted, 
surrendered, and Columbus imposed upon the 
wTctched remnant of his people an exacting 
tribute, ordaining that each Indian should 
furnish a hawk-bell full of gold every month, 
and each cacique a calabash full. This crush- 
ing imposition was complied with for a while 
by Cotubanama, who was then, by succession, 
cacique of the Cibao or Gold stone Country; 
but Guarionex protested, truthfully, that his 
province contained little, f any, gold. He 
offered, in lieu of it, to sow the entire Vega 
with maize, from sea to sea, "enough to 
have furnished all Castile with bread for 
full ten years"; but Columbus would not 
listen to this proposition. Soon, in truth, 
he was experiencing the rewards of his 
195 



COLUMBUS 

short-sighted policy, for, unable to satisfy 
the Spaniards' lust for gold, the miserable 
Indians fled to the mountains, and famine 
spread over the land. Thither their fiendish 
enemies followed them relentlessly, pursuing 
women with famished babes on their shoul- 
ders, cleaving with their swords the skulls 
of children, as well as of warriors, who were 
already tottering from weakness produced 
by famine. In short, they compelled such 
as they reserved alive to return to never- 
ending toil, in the mines and on plantations, 
until finally these Indians, so indolent by 
nature, whose weak frames could not en- 
dure the strain of continual labor under a 
tropic sun, sank beneath their accumulated 
woes, and the earth knew them no more. 

Columbus found in Hispaniola a popula- 
tion, the least estimate of which was a million 
souls; before his death, in 1506, many thou- 
sands had been murdered by the Spaniards, 
through the workings of a system he in- 
augurated ; and before the end of that century 
these people had become extinct. Columbus 
himself, in his latter years, bore this tes- 
timony: "The Indians of Hispaniola were 
and are the riches of the island, for it is 
they who cultivate the maize and make the 
196 



SUBJUGATION OF THE INDIANS 

bread of the Christians; who dig the gold 
from the mines, and perform all the offices 
and labors both of men and beasts. I am 
informed that since I left that island, six 
parts out of seven are dead, all through ill- 
treatment and inhumanity; some by the 
sword, others by blows and cruel usage, 
others through hunger. The greater part 
have perished in the mountains and glens, 
whither they have fled, from not being able 
to support the labors imposed upon them." 

After the battle of the Vega, bands of 
marauding Spaniards prowled through the 
country, led by Columbus, and that fair 
land, which he had found an Eden of natural 
delights, and inhabited by people with all 
the innocence and joyousness of childhood — 
that beautiful island, within whose borders 
peace and plenty were enjoyed by all, be- 
came the abode of desolation. 

While Columbus was engaged in riveting 
the fetters upon these conquered people, his 
influence at the court of Spain was being 
undermined by such men as Margarite, and 
avenging fate was preparing a series of per- 
secutions, which were to continue from that 
time till his death. Word reached him that 
one Aguado had arrived at Isabella, with 

14 197 



COLUMBUS 

royal authority, which he had proclaimed 
by sound of trumpet, to inquire into the 
wrongs inflicted by Columbus, and perhaps 
to supersede him. Hastening to the coast, 
he found the rumor verified by the presence 
of Aguado; but, instead of resenting the in- 
solence of this shallow individual, who had 
ignored Don Bartholomew's authority as 
adelantado, and had threatened to arrest 
the Admiral himself, he received him courte- 
ously, and ordered his credentials trumpeted 
through the streets of the town. His loyalty 
to the sovereigns ever remained unshaken; 
but, learning that his rights had been in- 
vaded, and his prospective profits diverted, 
by royal orders issued in April of that year, 
while he was fighting in the Vega, he resolved 
to return to Spain and demand reparation. 
A fleet was prepared in which he and Aguado 
(who had collected testimony most damaging 
to Columbus) were about to embark, when 
the harbor was visited by one of those tropical 
tempests, known to the natives as uricans, 
or hurricanes. Three ships were sunk at 
their moorings, and all the rest were shat- 
tered, so that it became necessary to delay 
the voyage in order to make repairs and con- 
struct another caravel from the wreckage. 
198 



SUBJUGATION OF THE INDIANS 

This detention was afterwards regarded by 
Columbus as providential, for, in the mean- 
time, information reached Isabella respect- 
ing the discovery of rich gold deposits 
on the southern coast. A runaway soldier, 
who had formed an attachment for a female 
cacique, was told by her of an ancient gold- 
mine, which had thus far eluded the vigilant 
search of the Spaniards. Going as she di- 
rected, and finding great nuggets of the 
precious metal, the soldier conceived the 
idea that he might then placate his command- 
er with them and obtain pardon for his de- 
sertion. He went with the information to 
Isabella, and not only was pardoned, but 
promoted, after the adelantado had verified 
his statements by personal investigation ; and 
with a large quantity of gold from this newly 
found region, the Admiral set sail for Spain, 
after giving orders that a fort should be built 
in the vicinity of the mines. 

This was quite an opportune discovery 
for Columbus, for it enabled him to make 
terms with his sovereigns, even as it had 
served the poor soldier to obtain forgiveness ; 
and, with his head turned by the reports of 
vast wealth contained in those ancient mines, 
he imagined that he had at last found the 
199 



COLUMBUS 

veritable Ophir, which had yielded to King 
Solomon gold for the adornment of the tem- 
ple at Jerusalem. His mind was filled with 
golden visions as, at last embarked on board 
one of the two caravels saved from the 
wreckage of the hurricane, he set out on his 
voyage to Spain. In the other caravel was 
his enemy, Aguado, and both vessels were 
crowded with disappointed fortune - seekers 
now returning to their homes after a futile 
quest for wealth. 

During this unfortunate voyage, which 
was greatly protracted by mistakes in naviga- 
tion and contrary winds, Columbus was tor- 
mented by the gibes, complaints, and ridicule 
of this wretched rabble. Setting sail on 
March lo, 1496, a month later he had only 
reached the island of Marie -Galante, the first 
at which he had landed on his second out- 
ward voyage. And what a contrast be- 
tween the two landings, but a little more than 
two years apart! The first was made in the 
flush of hopes excited by his first, most won- 
derful voyage, when in command of a splen- 
did fleet, filled with eager and happy ad- 
venturers; the second found him creeping 
slowly home, in a crazy caravel, laden with 
the remnants of that once hopeful band, 
200 



SUBJUGATION OF THE INDIANS 

now emaciated through hunger and disease. 
Still, the Admiral did not allow his zest for 
discovery to flag, his quest for gold to slacken. 
He put over to Guadeloupe, and there found 
some Carib families, the children and females 
of which only were at home, and these sup- 
plied him with provisions, such as cassava 
bread, parrots, iguanas, and utias, of which 
he was greatly in need. The casks were 
filled with pure water from the mountain 
streams, and then, after taking on board 
some prisoners and dismissing others for 
whom he had no room, Columbus set forth 
once more for Spain. It is a fact worthy of 
note that, while nearly all the outward voy- 
ages from Spain were made in tranquil 
weather, those of the return were almost 
invariably tempestuous. This one was no 
exception, and the caravels were so buffeted 
by adverse winds, and tossed by billowy seas, 
that before land was sighted their passengers 
were threatened with famine. 

Made desperate by hunger, some of the 
Spaniards proposed killing and eating their 
Indian prisoners, while others advocated 
tossing them into the sea, thus lessening the 
number of mouths to fill. Thirty unfortu- 
nate Indians had been taken from Isabella, 

20I 



COLUMBUS 

and among them that famous cacique, 
Caonabo, who had been for two years a 
prisoner, yet whose spirit was unsubdued. 
Some have narrated that he perished in the 
hold of a caravel wrecked by the hurricane, 
along with hundreds of others, his com- 
panions in captivity ; but the more probable 
story is that he accompanied Columbus on 
this voyage. At the island of Guadeloupe a 
Carib princess was captured, an Amazonian 
female who fought with spirit and nearly 
strangled one of her captors. When taken 
aboard the caravel, she saw Caonabo on 
deck, naked and dejected, yet imperious even 
in his chains, and her heart went out towards 
this redoubtable warrior of her race, of 
whose prowess she had doubtless heard. 
She might have regained her liberty had 
she chosen to go ashore, but she refused the 
proffer, preferring to remain by the side of 
Caonabo, whom she cheered and comfofted 
by her ministrations, until finally he expired 
almost within sight of land. This was the 
end of the most valiant chieftain encountered 
by Columbus in the West Indies ; thus miser- 
ably perished the "Lord of the Golden 
House," cacique of the Cibao, which Colum- 
bus once mistook for the veritable Cipango. 



SUBJUGATION OF THE INDIANS 

A few days later, after a wearisome voyage 
three months in length, the two caravels and 
their famine-stricken crews gained the port 
of Cadiz, where they attracted the attention 
of the populace: the vessels with shattered 
hulls and rigging, the passengers wasted by 
disease, and with the only evidence of the 
gold they had gone to seek showing in their 
yellow eyes and jaundiced faces. In token 
of humility and the disgrace he believed 
himself to be in with his sovereigns, the Ad- 
miral clad himself in the garb of a monk, 
girded about with a cord; but he did not 
omit to display all the golden treasure he had 
brought, such as the collars, anklets, brace- 
lets, and coronets of gold, which excited 
the admiration of the multitude and hushed 
their murmurings. A brother and a nephew 
of Caonabo, also prisoners, had survived him, 
and when going through a town or city they 
were decorated with massive chains and 
collars of gold, in token of having been resi- 
dents of the golden Cibao. One of these 
chains was wrought of virgin gold to the 
value of more than three thousand dollars, 
and there were also masks and images of 
the precious metal cast in hideous shapes. 
The Admiral did his best to make this a 
203 



COLUMBUS 

triumphal procession, as he wended his way 
to Almazen, by order of the King and Queen ; 
but it was in sad contrast to his former tour 
to Barcelona less than three years previous. 
The novelty which invested the first savages 
brought to Spain had worn away; the favor 
in which the sovereigns held Columbus had 
diminished ; and, besides, he was everywhere 
pursued by the execrations of those unfortu- 
nates who had been lured to the New World 
by his tales of wealth in prospective never 
realized. Still, he was favorably received 
by the sovereigns, who knew the difficulties 
attendant upon his ventures, and who even 
listened with interest while he told of his 
pursuit of the yet elusive Grand Khan and 
the recent discovery of ancient Ophir's won- 
derful mines. When he asked for six or 
eight ships, in which to prosecute a voyage 
still farther south, they promised to furnish 
them in due time; but the period of delay 
was so protracted that nearly two years 
passed before he was given a fleet for the 
purpose desired. Meanwhile, he lost no op- 
portunity for intrenching himself behind the 
breastwork of rights and privileges erected 
in the "capitulation" of January, 1492. He 
was ever jealous of his prerogatives, and al- 
204 



SUBJUGATION OF THE INDIANS 

ways insisted upon being addressed as the 
"Admiral." 

Twice, at least, while preparing for a third 
voyage, Columbus lost his temper, which he 
generally held in strict restraint. The first 
time was when, after King Ferdinand had 
granted six million maravedis for the voy- 
age, it was retracted upon information from 
one Pedro Nino, then recently returned 
from the Indies, that his vessel's hold was 
full of gold. 

" If that be the case," said the crafty King, 
"our Admiral may get his gold from Niiio." 
And he issued an order to that effect. When 
it was learned, however, that the vaunted 
"gold" brought by Nino was in the shape of 
Indian prisoners, captured by orders of Co- 
lumbus himself, and who were to be sold as 
slaves before it could be realized, his cha- 
grin and vexation may be imagined. But, 
as he was "hoist by his own petard," he 
received no sympathy. 



XV 

THE RULE OF DON BARTHOLOMEW 
1496-1498 

THE Indians brought to Spain by Nino, 
and which caused Columbus such vex- 
ation and delay, had been sent by his brother, 
Don Bartholomew, who, in his capacity of 
adelantado, had completed the subjugation 
of the Royal Vega. He also built a fort in 
the district where gold was found by Miguel 
Diaz, the soldier, who settled down happily 
with the caciquess as his wife, but who con- 
tinued to serve his commander as a guide, 
and eventually piloted him to the mouth of 
the river on which the mines were situated. 
This river still bears its native name, Ozama, 
and is famed for the beauty of the scenery 
along its banks. Finding at its mouth a 
secure harbor, Don Bartholomew erected a 
fortress there, and this was the beginning, in 
1496, of the capital city, known by the name 
of the Spanish portion of the island, Santo 
206 



THE RULE OF DON BARTHOLOMEW 

Domingo. The first fort was called San 
Cristobal, better known as the Golden Tower; 
the second received the name of Isabella, 
changed afterwards to Santo Domingo; and 
no sooner were they built and garrisoned 
than Don Bartholomew set out on an ex- 
ploring expedition to Xaragua. 

This was the province ruled by Cacique 
Behechio and his sister Anacaona, or the 
"Golden Flower." She was the wife of 
Caonabo, still young and beautiful, with a 
reputation among the Indians of being the 
handsomest woman of her tribe. She was 
gracious and charming also, and though the 
Spaniards had kept her husband in captivity 
for years, and had finally taken him away 
to his death, she seemed to bear no malice, 
but received Don Bartholomew with hos- 
pitality. As he and his army marched 
across the border-line of Xaragua, they were 
met by Behechio and a host of warriors, pre- 
pared to resist the invasion by force of arms ; 
but when assured that this was a peaceful 
mission, they received them in friendship. 
Messengers were sent ahead to Anacaona, 
who soon appeared, borne in a litter on the 
shoulders of six Indians. She was preceded 
by thirty beautiful maidens, adorned with 
207 



COLUMBUS 

garlands of flowers, who, as they sang and 
danced, waved great palm leaves in the air, 
which they later, on bended knees, present- 
ed to Don Bartholomew. A banquet ensued, 
at which, for the first time, the adelantado 
tasted the flesh of the ill-looking but tooth- 
some iguana, and at night all the soldiers 
were presented with cotton hammocks in 
which they slept. The next day a sham 
battle was fought by the Indians for the en- 
tertainment of their guests, in which they 
became so excited that several of them were 
slain ; but no affront of any kind was offered 
to the Spaniards. 

When it was explained to the cacique and 
Anacaona that the object of the visit was to 
collect tribute and secure their homage to 
the Spanish sovereigns, they readily prom- 
ised to furnish supplies of cotton and cassava, 
the products of their province, which con- 
tained little gold within its borders. It was 
with mutual regret that the adelantado and 
his hospitable hosts parted company, and all 
looked forward to another visit, to be made 
when the promised tribute should be col- 
lected. From Xaragua, which was on the 
south coast of the island, Don Bartholomew 
marched directly across to Isabella, on the 
208 



THE RULE OF DON BARTHOLOMEW 

north coast, at the same time establishing 
several forts or armed camps, as links in the 
military chain connecting that settlement 
with the newer one of Santo Domingo. 

He found Isabella in a sad state, most of 
its residents ill with fevers, and all com- 
plaining, so he set about withdrawing them 
from such a sickly spot. Some he sent to 
dwell with the Indians of the interior, some 
to Santo Domingo ; and in a short time this, 
the first settlement by white people in the 
West Indies, was virtually abandoned. A 
few years later it was entirely so, and was 
only visited by hunters of Indians and wild 
beasts. Even the soldier-settlers stood in 
awe of it, on account of the many cavaliers 
who had died within its walls. One of the 
stories told of it was that, nightly, bands 
of those unfortunate hidalgos roamed the 
ruined city, and could be seen by any visitor. 
Wrapped in sombre garments, they stalked 
gloomily about ; but in their spirit form they 
preserved traditions of their breeding, for 
when met by strangers they always saluted 
them gravely; but when they bowed they 
removed their heads with their helmets! 

While the adelantado was busily engaged 
at Isabella, reports were brought him of an 
209 



COLUMBUS 

insurrection in the Vega, where, at the 
instigation of some priests, two Indians had 
been burned at the stake for violating a 
chapel. With his accustomed energy and 
promptness, he, marched against the natives 
in force, reduced them to subjection, and 
restored order for the time being, after 
putting one of the caciques to death and 
imprisoning others. In labors of this sort 
the year 1496 passed by, and the time came 
for collecting the tribute at Xaragua. At 
the head of his little army, with drums 
beating, trumpets sounding, and banners 
flying, Don Bartholomew marched a second 
time into the territory of Anacaona and 
Behechio, by whom he was received as before, 
with joy and gladness, and entertained with 
games, banquets, and festivities. 

Such a quantity of cotton and cassava had 
been gathered by them and their thirty-two 
tributary chiefs that the adelantado was 
obliged to send for a caravel to carry it 
away. As this was the first vessel with sails 
that either Anacaona or her brother had 
ever seen, they were struck dumb with as- 
tonishment. When they went aboard the 
craft, and a salute from the lombards was 
fired in their honor, the "Golden Flower" 
210 



THE RULE OF DON BARTHOLOMEW 

fell into Don Bartholomew's arms, so filled 
with fear was she, while some of her subjects 
leaped into the sea. Their admiration of all 
they saw and heard was unbounded. They 
regarded the Spaniards as the most wonder- 
ful of beings, and the grave, benignant Don 
Bartholomew as the grandest of all. They 
gladly paid him tribute, everything they had 
was at his disposal, and he was so affected 
by their frank and joyous generosity that 
he would not have harmed them for a king- 
dom. He was capable of appreciating real 
worth and innocence; he loved these simple 
children of nature, and if their fate had been 
left in his hands, it might have been less 
lamentable. 

But, at that very time, a conspiracy was 
being formed against him and his brothers, 
which not only undermined their authority 
and banished them from the island, but event- 
ually wrought the destruction of these inno- 
cent people. It is known as the conspiracy 
of Roldan, an uneducated man who had been 
raised from obscurity by the Admiral, until 
he filled the office of alcalde, or justice of the 
peace. Envious of the Columbus brothers, 
who filled the chief offices in the govern- 
ment, Roldan instigated an insurrection, and, 

211 



COLUMBUS 

forming a band of malcontents, marched 
from Isabella to the Vega, where he laid siege 
to Fort Conception, which was in charge of a 
stout soldier and devoted servant of the 
adelantado. He sent for his commander, 
who promptly came to his aid, but found, 
after he had thrown himself, with a rein- 
forcement, into the fort, that he, too, was a 
prisoner within the walls. Roldan had gath- 
ered so many of the discontented around 
him, whom he had armed and equipped 
from the royal stores, that his force was 
stronger than any Don Bartholomew could 
raise. After worrying the adelantado awhile 
in the Vega, the rebels suddenly departed 
for Xaragua, many leagues distant, where, 
amid the delights of that charming region, 
they held high revel, forcing the natives to 
comply with their demands, and soon had 
demoralized the entire province. The sub- 
jects of Anacaona and Behechio were reduced 
to slavery, their properties seized, and their 
lives and honor held at the caprice of lib- 
ertines and ruffians unworthy the name of 
men. This was the beginning of the end, 
for the peaceful people of Xaragua, involved 
in the strife between the Spaniards them- 
selves, miserably perished. 

212 



THE RULE OF DON BARTHOLOMEW 

While rebel Roldan was sowing seeds of 
death and disease among Anacaona's people, 
the adelantado was reaping a harvest from 
his prev^ious planting in the Vega, where 
Cacique Guarionex again broke out and 
took the field. Instigated by the archtraitor, 
Roldan, the old chief formed a conspiracy 
among his tributary caciques, to rise and 
massacre all the Spaniards in and around 
Fort Conception. Don Bartholomew had 
recently departed for the south coast, having 
received reinforcements and supplies from 
Spain ; but on receipt of the startling news 
he at once returned to the Vega. But for 
the miscalculation of one of the tributary 
caciques, who took up arms too soon, the 
attack having been arranged to take place 
on the night of the full moon, it might have 
been successful. As it was, the Spaniards 
easily repulsed the small detachment that 
fell upon the fort, and Guarionex, being ap- 
prised of the return of Don Bartholomew, 
first put the unlucky cacique to death, then 
fled with his, family to the mountains. He 
made his retreat in the cordillera of Ciguey, 
with Cacique Mayobanex, who (as the reader 
may recall) was chieftain of the tribe with 
which Columbus had his skirmish in the Bay 
IS 213 



COLUMBUS 

of Arrows. His province was rough and 
mountainous, bordered on the sea-coast, and 
was filled with the hardiest warriors in 
Hispaniola. Now that Caonabo had been 
removed, he was the most to be feared of any 
cacique commanding a native army. He 
received Guarionex with promise of protec- 
tion, and faithfully kept his pledge, for, 
when the adelantado demanded the refugee, 
he refused to give him up, and assembled 
an army to protect him. Don Bartholomew 
was not a cruel man, judged by the Spanish 
standard, nor was he revengeful; but he 
realized the necessity for getting Guarionex 
in his power, and resolved to do so at all 
hazards. Leaving the beautiful Vega with 
a small but intrepid force, he led his men 
straight into the mountain wilds which had 
never before been penetrated by Europeans. 
As they were crossing a river hemmed 
in between high cliffs, a troop of painted 
savages burst upon them, with yells of rage 
which made the forest ring. A flight of 
arrows filled the air, and many of the Span- 
iards were wounded, but the adelantado 
bravely forced a passage across the stream, 
then pursued the enemy into the tangled 
thickets. There he was frequently am- 
214 



THE RULE OF DON BARTHOLOMEW 

buscaded, and many of his men were wound- 
ed ; but on he pressed, until at last the des- 
perate Ciguayans took refuge on a wooded 
promontory of the coast. It abounded in 
cavernous cliffs, in the dens of which the 
two caciques concealed themselves for nearly 
three months, while the incensed adelantado 
raged through the forests, determined never 
to give over the pursuit so long as those two 
mountain lions, Guarionex and Mayobanex, 
remained alive in their lairs. 

His soldiers were nearly worn out from 
hunger and fatigue; some of them deserted, 
some fell ill, until only thirty were left to 
continue the pursuit. The two chiefs were 
in direr straits than the Spaniards, for they 
could only steal out by night in search of 
food, and were nearly starved. Still the 
noble Mayobanex held his promise as sacred, 
and to a demand that he deliver up his guest, 
replied, " He is my friend ; he has fled to me 
for refuge; I have promised to protect him, 
and I shall keep my word." 

These noble sentiments were uttered by a 
"savage," whom the Spaniards were hunting 
as though he were a beast of the forest. The 
war-cries died away, for the warriors had 
been killed or dispersed ; but the pursuit was 

215 



COLUMBUS 

not relaxed, and fighting now and then oc- 
curred. One day the adelantado found two 
of his scouts dead in his path, transfixed by 
Indians arrows, slain by orders of the cacique, 
whose hiding-place was soon after betrayed. 
A half-starved Indian was captured while 
foraging for food, and, compelled to reveal 
his master's retreat, led twelve Spaniards 
thither, disguised as Indians, with their 
swords wrapped in palm leaves. They came 
upon Mayobanex in his cave, surrounded by 
his family, and soon after Guarionex was 
taken in a similar manner. Both were 
placed in irons and confined in the fort, 
where they hourly expected death ; but Don 
Bartholomew was not vindictive, and spared 
their lives, on condition that their subjects 
should supply the Spaniards with food. He 
forgot the fatigue and dangers he had been 
exposed to on their account; he overlooked 
their transgressions; and, being humane as 
well as just, when unfettered by higher au- 
thority, he made no slaves, except of such 
as had been guilty of great crimes. In fact, 
one of the charges against him by the rebels 
was on account of his lenity towards the 
Indians, whom he judged by the same stand- 
ard that he applied to the Spaniards. The 
216 



THE RULE OF DON BARTHOLOMEW 

man who had committed an offence against 
the wife of Guarionex, and thus given that 
chieftain an excuse for rebellion, the adelan- 
tado tried in court and condemned to death, 
meting out impartial justice. This did not 
suit the Spaniards ; but the incident throws a 
ray of light upon Don Bartholomew's char- 
acter, and, considered in connection with 
what we have seen of his doings, shows him 
to have been high-minded, noble, and sym- 
pathetic. Between him and his elder brother 
there was a strong bond of sympathy, and 
they had many traits in common ; but of the 
two the adelantado was better qualified to 
rule than the Admiral. 

In justice to the Admiral, we should not 
fail to note that, while he pointed out the 
way to the New World, and opened the 
routes for others to follow, in his capacity 
of ruler or governor, he failed most wofully. 
In the role of discoverer he was supreme, 
and had he but been allowed to pursue his 
chosen career, leaving to the adelantado, 
with his vast executive ability, the organ- 
ization of government, the ending of both 
might have been more glorious. Meanwhile, 
Don Bartholomew was reducing order out of 
chaos in Hispaniola, his elder brother was 
217 



COLUMBUS 

impatiently awaiting the slow movement of 
the court in the direction of another voyage 
of discovery. Six ships were finally granted 
him, but, in order to obtain their crews, 
Columbus was obliged to resort to an ex- 
pedient which brought him bitter retribution 
in the future. At his suggestion, as no volun- 
teers offered for the voyage, the ships were 
manned with criminals, whose terms of im- 
prisonment were commuted to banishment 
to the colony for a certain number of years. 
The assembling of this band of malefactors 
was a sore trial to his high and noble nature, 
and, in addition to this insult thrust upon him, 
he was continually exposed to the taunts 
and revilings of those in the employ of his 
inveterate enemy, Fonseca, in whose charge 
was the fitting out of his squadron. The 
most annoying and despicable of these hire- 
lings of his enemy was one Breviesca, Fon- 
seca's trusted accountant, who followed the 
Admiral to his ship, at the time he was about 
to embark, and hurled at him most insulting 
epithets. The minion felt secure from as- 
sault, reckoning upon the dignity with which 
Columbus was clothed ; but the Admiral had 
now reached the limits of his patience, and 
in a transport of passion turned upon the 
218 



THE RULE OF DON BARTHOLOMEW 

scoundrel, struck him to the ground, and 
repeatedly kicked him ; to the great relief of 
his feelings, doubtless, but to the positive 
detriment of his subsequent fortunes. 



XVI 

THE THIRD VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
1498 

THIS was the voyage on which Colum- 
bus first found pearls, first saw troops 
of monkeys disporting in the tropical for- 
ests, and caught a glimpse of the continent 
he had so long and vainly sought. Sailing 
from the port of San Lucar, at the mouth 
of the river Guadalquivir, with six vessels 
manned by his motley crews, he boldly 
plunged into the unknown ocean to the 
south of his previous ventures, intending 
to pass under the equinoctial line. When, 
however, after nearly two months' voyaging, 
he encountered a torrid region of calms, the 
heated atmosphere of which caused the 
pitch in the seams of his ships to melt, the 
meats to spoil, and the wine and water casks 
to burst, he changed his course to a point 
more northerly and westerly. He left Spain 
on May 30th, and on July 31st, when but 



THIRD VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 

one cask of water remained to each vessel, 
land was sighted by a sailor at the masthead 
of the flag-ship. Three peaks appeared in 
the distance, which a nearer approach re- 
vealed as one huge mountain mass with 
triple summit. The land to which they 
appertained Columbus called La Trinidad, 
or the Trinity, having previously resolved 
to name his next discovery after the holy 
Triad. It proved to be an island, which he 
approached from the southeast and entered 
a great body of water beyond (the Bay of 
Paria) through a strait which he called the 
Boca del Sierpe, or the Serpent's Mouth, 
because of the angry waters which beset 
him there. Coasting its western shores, he 
was astonished at the verdure of its vast 
forests, containing immense trees that came 
down to the very water's edge; for he had 
previously reasoned out a theory that, being 
so near the equator (only ten degrees north 
of it), he should find the vegetation scant 
and parched from the heat, with little water 
or moisture. He had also thought to find 
the inhabitants of this country resembling 
the negroes of Africa, with coal-black skins 
and woolly hair; whereas the people who 
came out to his vessels in their canoes were 

221 



COLUMBUS 

much like the Caribs in the islands to the 
north, though, if anything, more comely. 

Here are his reasonings and conclusions, 
quaintly set forth by Peter Martyr, his con- 
temporary: "The earth (as Columbus saith) 
is not round, after the form of a ball or an 
apple, as others think, but rather like a pear 
as it hangeth on the tree; and that Paria is 
that region which possesseth the super- 
eminent or highest part thereof, the nearest 
unto heaven. Insomuch that he earnestly 
contendeth the earthly paradise to be sit- 
uate in the top of those three hills which the 
watchman saw from the top - castle of the 
ship; and that the outrageous streams of 
fresh waters, which did so violently issue out 
of said Gulph, and strive so with the salt 
water, fall headlong from the summits of 
said mountains." 

The historiographer was wrong, however, 
in attributing to Columbus the last conclu- 
sion : that the waters which caused him such 
inconvenience came from the mountains of 
Trinidad; for, on the contrary, he reasoned 
that they proved the existence of a vast con- 
tinent, possessing, as they did, such great 
volume as to influence the currents of the 
Caribbean Sea. In the abstract, he argued 



THIRD VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 

correctly as to the existence of the conti- 
nent ; but when at last he saw the peninsula 
of Paria, with its beautiful shores and fair 
harbors, he did not suspect that he had it 
actually in view. Even as he insisted on 
making a continent of insular Cuba, so he 
mistook this coast of a continent for part of 
an island. However, on he sailed, delighted 
beyond measure at the things he saw: the 
monkey bands in the forests of Trinidad, 
the shapely Indians of Paria, and the oysters 
growing on trees along the shore. 

Recalling what Pliny had written respect- 
ing the formation of pearls from drops of 
dew, he inferred that these oysters, which 
he saw suspended from the mangroves, hung 
there with their mouths wide open, ready to 
receive the night dews that were to be trans- 
muted into precious pearls. Any visitor to 
Trinidad and the Bay of Paria may see oys- 
ters growing there now, in the same man- 
ner, attached to twigs and roots of man- 
groves ; but to find the veritable oyster that 
produces the pearl, one must follow after 
Columbus to the islands he next visited on 
the Caribbean coast of Paria. He reached 
them only by sailing through the turbulent 
waters of that strait between Paria and 
223 



COLUMBUS 

Trinidad, caused by the outflow of the great 
Orinoco's current, and which he named the 
Boca del Drago, or Mouth of the Dragon. 
Columbus was singularly happy in his choice 
of names for the natural objects he saw, and 
those he applied to the two straits still sur- 
vive. Through the roaring waters of the 
Dragon's Mouth the little craft passed safely, 
though in imminent peril from the rocks and 
shoals, and emerged into the tranquil sea 
which laves the northern coast of Paria. 

As he bore away westward, he saw in 
the distance the outlines of Tobago, which 
has since become famous as the scene of 
Robinson Crusoe's adventures; but he kept 
on until, on August 15th, he sighted and 
discovered the islands of Cubagua and Mar- 
garita, subsequently so famous for the pearls 
their seas afi:ord. If some one could only 
have whispered to Columbus a hint of the 
riches those waters contained, he might 
have made that third voyage the most pros- 
perous of all; but, though he saw Indians 
fishing for pearls, and obtained some of 
great size from them in exchange for shards 
of painted plates, he did not fully realize 
what he was leaving behind for others. He 
might have obtained, in a few weeks, pearls 
224 



THIRD VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 

enough to satisfy even the greed and. rapacity 
of King Ferdinand, and thus have purchased 
exemption from the persecutions that fol- 
lowed. But at that time the Admiral was 
suffering from gout and an affection of the 
eyes which nearly blinded him; his ships 
were leaky and his crews inclined to be 
mutinous; so he bore up across the Carib- 
bean Sea for Hispaniola, and lost the one 
opportunity which fate threw in his way 
for the accumulation of treasure from the 
sea. 

In the months following he sent home 
to Spain an account of his discoveries, with 
charts of his route and specimens of pearls, 
by which means, through the treachery of 
Fonseca and the baseness of his sovereigns, 
other adventurers quickly became informed 
of this vast treasure- trove beneath the sea. 
One of his former companions (none other 
than the brave and rash Ojeda, the same 
who had captured Caonabo), a favorite of 
Fonseca, was enabled to fit out an expedi- 
tion which followed the route of Columbus 
in 1499. With him was another advent- 
urer then unknown, but who subsequently 
achieved distinction by his narrative of the 
voyage, and through having his name be- 
225 



COLUMBUS 

stowed upon the country discovered by 
Columbus — Americus Vespucius ! 

He and Ojeda sailed from Spain just a 
year after Columbus left on his third voyage ; 
and though it has been denied by some 
geographers that our country was called 
after the Florentine, but derived its name 
from an aboriginal word, America- pan, ap- 
plied to a settlement in Paria peninsula, yet 
it is certain that Vespucius (or Vespucci) 
was there within a year of his great rival's 
visit. Sailing beyond the Pearl Islands, 
after greatly enriching themselves, these 
purloiners from the fame and wealth of Co- 
lumbus discovered Curagao, and gave the 
name to the north coast of South America 
which it still bears, of Venezuela, or Little 
Venice, from the dwellings of Indians 
found by them above the surface of Lake 
Maracaibo. Their voyage ended in June, 
1500, when they returned to Cadiz, only a 
few months previous to the arrival in that 
same port of the Admiral himself, wearing 
the manacles placed upon his limbs by the 
usurper Bovadilla. 

We have already narrated some of the 
circumstances by which the fetters were 
forged to which allusion is made in the pre- 
226 



THIRD VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 

ceding paragraph. When Columbus reached 
Hispaniola and landed at the port of Santo 
Domingo (which had been founded in 1496 
by Don Bartholomew, acting under his 
orders), he was worn with watching, nearly 
blind, suffering from the gout, and exceed- 
ingly despondent. He was refreshed by the 
meeting with sturdy Don Bartholomew, and 
one of his first proceedings, after arrival, was 
to issue a proclamation confirming the title 
of adelantado, which he had bestowed upon 
his brother, and heartily approving his 
course with reference to the rebels. These 
were now in full possession of Xaragua, and 
were shortly reinforced by the very vaga- 
bonds and criminals brought over by Co- 
lumbus as his crews. Thus quickly these 
foul birds revenged themselves upon the 
author of their banishment. They joined 
with Roldan and his ruffians, and between 
them they completed the ruin of the island, 
which the lust and cruelty of Spaniards had 
begun. 

The condition of the Indians was heart- 
breaking; but Columbus, lost to a sense of 
their wrongs, in view of the appalling misery 
among the Spaniards themselves, still con- 
tinued to urge their enslavement as the only 
227 



COLUMBUS 

hope of the colonists. In treating with the 
rebels, even after vainly endeavoring to 
subdue them by force, he consented to their 
taking with them to Spain a large number 
of Indians as. servants and slaves, some of 
whom were sold in Seville. Queen Isabella 
is said to have been greatly incensed at this 
usurpation of her authority in the matter of 
allowing rebels against the government to 
return with human chattels, and gave orders 
that restitution should be made to the un- 
fortunate natives; but these orders were not 
obeyed. It was the policy of the crafty 
Ferdinand to allow her to issue such orders 
as a sop to her conscience ; but her " righteous 
indignation ' ' rarely carried her to the excess 
of sacrificing any pecuniary interest of the 
crown. The King and the Admiral had a 
perfect understanding on this point, what- 
ever may have been the disfavor in which 
the latter was held by the former 

To the end of his career, Christopher Colum- 
bus continued his recommendations to the 
crown that the Indians be enslaved for the 
profit of the sovereigns and salvation of 
the colonies, and the vessels returning to 
Spain were nearly always full of miserable 
wretches who had been torn from their 
228 




COLUMBUS XLGUliAlhb A I'LAcl-- Willi kUl.U.W 



THIRD VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 

homes at his behest. They were generally 
stigmatized as "cannibals," "insurgents," or 
"rebels"; but sometimes Columbus made 
no pretence that they were sent to be sold 
into slavery for any other reason than the 
real one — namely, profit to himself and his 
sovereigns. 

Finding Roldan too strongly intrenched in 
the mountains of Xaragua to be easily dis- 
lodged, he negotiated a peace with the rebel, 
by which, on the principle of "set a thief to 
catch a thief," he converted him into an 
ally, for the purpose of hunting down other 
malcontents less formidable than the ex- 
alcalde, who was now invested with his 
former dignities. It was Don Bartholomew's 
plan to hunt down the rebels and hang or 
shoot them wherever found ; and, indeed, he 
was accused of taking with him on his forays 
both a hangman and a priest, for the saving 
of time and the benefit of their souls. But, 
though he did not sanction his brother's 
schemes, either as to the treatment of the 
Indians or the pacification of the rebels, 
he was too loyal to offer protest. 

The defection of Roldan from his own 
party, caused some com^plications, some of 
them amusing, others tragical. Of the for- 
16 229 



COLUMBUS 

mer kind was his expedition for the purpose of 
defeating the aims of Alonzo de Ojeda and 
Amerigo Vespucci, who, after picking up 
pearls in the route indicated by Columbus, 
must needs sail over to his own island of 
Hispaniola for the capturing of slaves and 
cutting of dye-woods. As one now high in 
favor with the Admiral, Roldan was sent 
with a force to drive them away. They had 
landed in his favorite province of Xaragua, 
and he was highly indignant at their illegal 
acts — as became an upholder of the govern- 
ment, against which, not long before, he 
himself was in rebellion. He finally pre- 
vailed, somewhat by force, but mainly by 
argument, during which Ojeda let drop 
that the Admiral was in very bad odor at 
court, insomuch that his successor was al- 
ready determined upon by the sovereigns, 
and perhaps it might not be well for 
Roldan to appear too zealous in his behalf! 
This information, coming to him from 
Fonseca's favorite, and probably indicating 
the sentiment at court, caused the former 
rebel, Roldan, to reflect. He did not, how- 
ever, relax his severity against those whom 
he hated, or who came between him and his 
lusts. Among the latter was a young man 
230 



THIRD VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 

named Hernando de Guevara, who had been 
banished to Xaragua on account of some 
misdemeanor at the capital, and who, being 
a cousin of Adrian de Moxia, one of Roldan's 
old comrades, was very well received by 
the reformed rebel. When, however, Gue- 
vara saw and became enamoured of Anaca- 
ona's beautiful daughter, Higuenamota, and 
(though he came of a noble family) offered 
her honorable marriage, Roldan's friendship 
was suddenly turned to hate. He also had 
been smitten by the lovely maiden's charms, 
but was too base to conceive of legal alli- 
ance with an Indian, even though a princess, 
daughter of a queen. He immediately sep- 
arated the lovers and banished young Gue- 
vara to another province; but the latter re- 
turned to the house of his intended bride 
and there concealed himself, with the object, 
it was alleged, of taking Roldan's life. This 
intention was not proved, but Guevara and 
seven of his companions, or accomplices, 
were arrested and confined in prison. When 
his cousin, Adrian de Moxia, heard of it, he 
organized a party of horsemen, fully armed, 
and set out to rescue his kinsman from the 
hands of his former leader in rebellion. 
And when Columbus heard that not only 
231 



COLUMBUS 

Roldan's life was threatened by them, but 
also his own, he gathered a little band 
of well-armed men and fell suddenly upon 
the conspirators, whom he captured and 
took to Fort Conception. Though he had 
been lenient with the archrebel, Roldan, he 
seemed to feel that in this instance mercy 
would be misplaced and misunderstood. 
He resolved to make an example of Moxia, 
and ordered him to be hanged from the 
battlement of the fortress. 

It is not clear that Moxia was engaged in 
anything more culpable than an attempted 
rescue of a kinsman who had offended 
Roldan and Columbus by offering to marry 
an Indian maiden whom he loved. Yet for 
this "offence" he was condemned to death 
without trial, and his nephew sent to Santo 
Domingo, where he was only saved from 
being hanged by the arrival of one having 
authority to supersede Columbus in the 
government of the island. It is related by 
the great apologist of Columbus, Mr. Irving, 
that while in the midst of his confession to a 
priest, who had been called for the purpose, 
Moxia was swung off from the battlement 
by order of Columbus, who was filled with 
"mingled indignation and scorn" because 
232 



THIRD VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 

he sought to protract the interview in the 
hope that a rescue might be attempted. 
The historian seeks to palHate the murder 
of this man by calling him a "dastard 
wretch," guilty of falsehood and treachery; 
but nothing is submitted in proof that he 
was worse than Roldan, or even Columbus 
himself, who, while he may not have medi- 
tated the murder of his superiors, yet had 
sanctioned the massacre of helpless natives, 
and condemned thousands to hopeless sla- 
very. With the aid of Roldan, Columbus 
and the adelantado pursued the "conspira- 
tors" relentlessly, hanging some and sending 
others to jail, at one time having seventeen 
imprisoned in a common dungeon, whence 
they were to be taken only for execution. 



XVII 

COLUMBUS AND HIS BROTHERS IN IRONS 
1500 

FOR condoning the grave offences of Rol- 
dan, the rebel, Columbus suffered the 
pains and penalties of one who has com- 
pounded a felony. Thenceforth, to the end 
of his life, he was beset by troubles and diffi- 
culties, until, overwhelmed by the burden 
of his sorrows, he sank into his grave. Al- 
though a truce had been concluded between 
the two, previous to this Roldan had written 
letters, when alcalde mayor, or chief- justice 
of the island, preferring serious charges 
against the Admiral. He and his brothers 
were accused of cruelty, avarice, and inca- 
pacity ; they were charged, as foreigners, with 
an intention to throw off their allegiance to 
the crown, and either set up an independent 
government or transfer the island to some 
other power. The charge of disloyalty was 
absurd on its face, and could be entertained 
234 



COLUMBUS AND BROTHERS IN IRONS 

only by one like King Ferdinand, who saw- 
in it an excuse for depriving Columbus of 
powers too great for a subject to possess, 
the granting of which he had long since 
repented. Against the accusations of his 
enemies, who now arose, like swarms of 
locusts, on every side, the frank and truth- 
ful letters of the Admiral availed little with 
the sovereigns. They themselves were con- 
vinced he had grossly deceived them in re- 
spect to the riches of the new country, which, 
instead of having been a source of wealth, 
was a constant drain upon the resources of 
Spain. They determined to inquire into the 
actual condition of affairs in Hispaniola, and 
appointed a commissioner to investigate the 
conduct of Columbus. Even had not their 
inclinations prompted them to the measure, 
they were forced to heed the clamors of the 
populace, who assailed them with demands 
for reparation, whenever they appeared in 
public. One day, as the royal pair were 
enjoying the charms of the Alhambra courts, 
a gang of fifty vagabonds, mostly returned 
colonists, broke into the corridors beneath 
their apartments and filled the air with de- 
nunciations of Columbus. His two sons, 
Diego and Ferdinand, who were then pages 
235 



COLUMBUS 

at court, happening to pass by, some of the 
rabble shouted: '' Miralos — behold them — 
the whelps of him who discovered the land of 
delusion and vanity, the grave of Spanish 
hidalgos!" Such was the feeling against the 
sons of Columbus that their lives were hard- 
ly safe in the streets, and they were com- 
pelled to remain in seclusion. 

The commissioner appointed by Isabella 
and Ferdinand to inquire into the doings of 
their Admiral was one Francisco de Bova- 
dilla, who, though an officer of the royal 
household and a knight of Calatrava, was 
an *' unknown quantity" until he suddenly 
emerged from obscurity in the capacity of 
grand inquisitor. He received his instruc- 
•tions, and sailed from Spain about the mid- 
dle of July, in the year 1500, arriving at 
Hispaniola in the last week of August. 
Sailing into the harbor of Santo Domingo, he 
was surprised* and shocked to behold, hang- 
ing from gibbets on the bank of the river, 
the bodies of two Spaniards, and was further 
horrified to be told that seven had been 
hanged the week before, while as many more 
were in the fortress dungeon awaiting a 
similar fate. It is possible that Bovadilla 
may not originally have intended to proceed 
236 



COLUMBUS AND BROTHERS IN IRONS 

so hastily as he did, but the sight of his dead 
countrymen, and the impending fate of 
those others in the dungeon, may have 
caused the inconsiderate action of which he 
was guilty. If he were culpable, then his 
sovereigns were still more so, for they had 
invested him with unrestricted authority 
to do as he thought best. The Admiral had 
requested them to send out a person em- 
powered to inquire into the charges brought 
against him by Roldan and others. Con- 
scious of his own integrity, he desired the 
questions to be submitted to an impartial 
judge, in order to silence, at once and for all, 
the clamors of malicious and unjust accusers. 
But, instead of complying with this reason- 
able request, his sovereigns had sent out a 
man who was charged, not only to inquire 
into the conduct of the rebels, to "arrest 
their persons and sequestrate their effects," 
but, if considered advisable, to supersede 
the Admiral himself. 

Don Diego Columbus was in command of 
the city at the time of Bovadilla's arrival, 
and upon him, immediately on landing, a 
demand was made for the release of the 
prisoners in the fortress. When he refused 
to comply, Bovadilla produced his creden- 
237 



COLUMBUS 

tials. He caused to be read aloud, first, his 
"patent," investing him with the govern- 
ment of the islands; second, the royal man- 
date ordering the Admiral to deliver up to 
him all fortresses, etc. ; third, authority for 
him to pay all arrears of wages due from 
Columbus to others, and for this purpose, 
of course, to take possession of his effects if 
the demands could not be met otherwise. 
Don Diego was an honest but weak man; 
both his brothers were absent, engaged in 
the interior pacifying Spanish rebels and 
Indians. They had nearly accomplished 
their good work, and, but for the inopportune 
arrival of Bovadilla, the island would have 
been brought entirely under the rule of 
rightful authority. 

The documents were read at the door of 
a little church, the first erected in Santo 
Domingo city, the walls of which are still 
standing, on the left bank of the Ozama. 
From its porch door Bovadilla could see the 
fortress, in which were confined the con- 
demned prisoners, among them the un- 
fortunate lover of Higuenamota, the Indian 
princess. Calling together a force of armed 
men, the new Governor marched upon and 
assailed the fortress, liberated the prisoners, 
238 



COLUMBUS AND BROTHERS IN IRONS 

and into the dungeon they had occupied 
cast Don Diego himself, whose superstitious 
regard for the royal signature had prevented 
him from opposing the pretender, as he 
should have done. There he was soon 
joined by his brothers, who (also abjectly 
submissive to the royal mandate) came in 
and surrendered themselves at Bovadilla's 
command. The Admiral was at Fort Con- 
ception, nearly a hundred miles distant, but, 
on receiving a command from the arrogant 
Bovadilla to appear before him, travelled in 
haste, and almost unattended, to the capital. 
He was, of course, surprised and perplexed, 
and could not understand the true character 
of this usurper's business. For was he not 
the only Admiral of the Ocean Sea? Was 
he not viceroy and governor over the islands 
in perpetuity? There was no one higher 
in authority than he ; how, then, could 
this person place his commands upon him? 
Whatever had operated to bring about this 
alarming condition of affairs, Columbus was 
soon convinced that the populace were on 
the side of Bovadilla, for he was received 
everywhere with hootings and revilings, and 
on arrival at the city was immediately ar- 
rested and sent to the fortress. By orders 
239 



COLUMBUS 

of the usurper, manacles were fastened on 
his wrists and ankles, and riveted there by a 
shameless wretch, who had once cooked the 
food for his table. 

Two of the brothers were captives and in 
chains; but there still remained the lion- 
hearted adelantado, from whom Bovadilla 
expected at least a show of resistance, as he 
was in command of armed forces and was 
not of a nature to tamely submit. But, like 
his elder brother, Don Bartholomew was 
loyal to his heart's core, even when to be so 
was his undoing. Receiving from the Ad- 
miral an injunction to submit without re- 
sistance, he hastened in and gave himself 
up, leaving his retainers in the field. He, 
also, was placed in irons, and thus, by an 
unexampled display of assurance, Bovadilla 
obtained possession of the "upstart Colom- 
bus " and won a bloodless victory. He had 
reversed the proceedings as indicated in his 
instructions, and, instead of first bringing 
to trial the guilty and criminal wretches 
who had rebelled against royal authority, 
he had arrested and incarcerated its only 
lawful representatives! We must not, how- 
ever, hold Bovadilla entirely blameworthy 
in this wretched affair, for the real culprits 
240 



COLUMBUS AND BROTHERS IN IRONS 

were those who sent him to the island. It 
cannot be urged in their defence that their 
creature, Bovadilla, exceeded his instructions, 
for he followed them out to the letter, and 
without them could not have proceeded in 
such a high-handed manner. Their treach- 
ery, duplicity, baseness, cannot be proper- 
ly characterized without overstepping the 
bounds set by the impartial and judicious 
historian. As for Bovadilla, having made 
friends of the real criminals and taken their 
part, he did not lack for information against 
Columbus, whose great deeds were lost to 
sight, and whose elevated character was torn 
to shreds, by the hosts of enemies that 
flocked about the man in power and poured 
out complaints against his victim, sitting in 
the darkness of a felon's cell. Whatever we 
may have found to condemn in the dealings 
of Columbus with inferior people, like the 
Indians and the sailors in his employ, we 
should not be blinded to the true greatness of 
his nature apart from his avarice and selfish- 
ness. The mask of ignoble ambitions and 
duplicity falls away when he is in sore dis- 
tress, and reveals the innate nobility of his 
character. The sins he committed were for 
the sake of his sovereigns : enslaving and op- 
241 



COLUMBUS 

pression of the Indians — even the massacres 
— that they might receive the greater profit 
and he the greater glory. Honor and re- 
nown were empty phrases now, he must 
have bitterly reflected. He had imperilled 
his life, had committed what mankind gen- 
erally considers unpardonable crimes, for 
the augmentation of his sovereigns' gran- 
deur, and this was his reward ! 

That he expected to be executed is shown 
by the following fragment of a conversation 
with Alonzo de Villejo, commander of the 
caravel in which he was sent to Spain. As 
the dungeon door was thrown open and that 
officer entered, accompanied by an armed 
guard, Columbus considered that his time 
had come. He had but recently sent men 
to the scaffold for the very crimes of which 
he was accused, and it seemed not unlikely 
this was his destination. 

"Villejo," he said, mournfully, "whither 
are you taking me?" 

"To the ship, your excellency; to em- 
bark." 

"To embark," repeated the Admiral ear- 
nestly. "Villejo, do you speak the truth.?" 

' By the life of your excellency, it is true," 
replied the honest officer, who, throughout 
242 



COLUMBUS AND BROTHERS IN IRONS 

the voyage, was kind and courteous to his 
distinguished prisoner. 

There were some to whom the venerable 
appearance of the Admiral appealed and by 
whom his great services were remembered, 
but these were few. The majority of the 
colonists exulted over his downfall and re- 
joiced at his distress. As he was taken to 
the caravel, between guards with loaded 
arquebuses, and to the accompaniment of 
clanking chains, a great shout went up from 
the rabble gathered at the river's bank. All 
had grievances, real or imaginary, which they 
held now to be avenged by the abasement of 
the Admiral, freed from whose detested rule 
they could indulge in license and liberty. 
Bovadilla was not among the throng, but 
kept in the background, from a window of the 
Admiral's house (where he maintained guard 
over the precious papers, moneys, and treas- 
ures he had seized), watching with satisfac- 
tion the departure of his enemies. But his 
reign was short, his rule disastrous, and his 
end was hastened by his arrogance. Know- 
ing that his course in ousting Columbus and 
seizing the reins of government, which he 
was unable to control, would not be sustained 
by his sovereigns upon sober reflection, he 
243 



COLUMBUS 

urged the colonists to make the most of their 
opportunity. He sold them lands at mini- 
mum prices, gave them Indians without 
number to work the mines, and exacted only 
an eleventh of their proceeds, instead of the 
third formerly paid as tribute to the crown. 
Crime was rampant, criminals assumed the 
airs and equipages of cavaliers, for the dregs 
of the communities had risen to the surface. 
Ruffians and cut-throats, who had escaped 
the gallows or the galleys only by being 
banished to this island, compelled the heredi- 
tary caciques over a once free and happy 
people to become their slaves and burden- 
bearers. They seized their sons and daugh- 
ters, consumed their provisions, and obliged 
them to bear them from place to place in 
litters, or hammocks suspended from poles, 
their shoulders raw and bleeding, until they 
fell to rise no more. Whatever the form of 
government adopted by the Spaniards, the 
miserable natives felt its exactions, were 
crushed by its severities, and before many 
years passed they had ceased to exist. 

Scarcely had the two caravels in which 
Columbus and his brothers were embarked 
left the island out of sight ere it was a veri- 
table region of misrule. But, except for the 
244 



COLUMBUS AND BROTHERS IN IRONS 

measures they had initiated, they were no 
longer responsible for the horrible cruelties 
enacted there. In a certain sense, Columbus 
was paying the penalty for his misdeeds ; but 
it was light in comparison with what was to 
follow. He was enduring no more than he 
himself had inflicted upon captive Caonabo, 
who, also a prisoner and in chains, had pre- 
ceded him over this very route to Spain. 
Caonabo had died and been thrown to the 
sharks; hundreds of others were languishing 
in slavery. What would befall the man who 
had caused all their miseries ? His reflections, 
doubtless, were gloomy, but his spirit was un- 
broken. When Villejo would have removed 
his manacles, he said, disdainfully: "No, 
my sovereigns ordered me by letter to submit 
to Bovadilla, and by their authority he has 
chained me. I will wear these irons until 
they are removed by royal order, and then I 
shall keep them as memorials of the rewards 
bestowed for my services." He was as good 
as his word, wearing the manacles through- 
out the long and wearisome voyage, and in 
this condition he and his brothers were de- 
livered to the alcalde of Cadiz. His son, 
Fernando, who was with him on his fourth 
voyage, says in his biography, " I saw them 
17 245 



COLUMBUS 

always hanging in his cabinet, and he re- 
quested that when he died they might be 
buried with him." 

So far as rigid research has been able to 
ascertain, these chains were placed with 
Columbus in his coffin, after his death, in 
1 506, at Valladolid ; but the pious intention of 
his heirs was frustrated by a Spanish thief. 
When his coffin was opened, at the time of 
the removal of his remains to Seville, a few 
years later, the manacles were missing, and 
it is a well-established tradition that they 
were stolen, by the keeper of the tavern in 
which he died. For many years, they were 
secreted by this man, his family, and de- 
scendants, but finally came into possession of 
a Genoese cavalier, by whom they are now 
preserved as precious relics. 



XVIII 

THE LAST AND MOST DISASTROUS VOYAGE 
1502-1504 



c 



is in custody of the alcalde of Cadiz." 
This was the surprising message received by- 
Isabella and Ferdinand at their court in the 
Alhambra of Granada. It flashed over the 
country. All Spain was aghast, and the in- 
creasing murmurs of the people roused the 
sovereigns to make, if possible, reparation for 
their offences. They sent at once an order 
for his release, and a letter filled with ex- 
pressions of grief and gratitude. Two thou- 
sand ducats were forwarded for his expenses, 
and he was requested to appear before 
them without delay. By this action they 
removed the doubts which, since his arrest 
and during all the voyage, had hung darkly 
over the mind of the man they had so deep- 
ly wronged. He had borne with silent scorn 
the taunts of the rabble, the gibes of his ene- 
247 



COLUMBUS 

mies ; but when he appeared before the royal 
pair "the Queen burst into tears, and Co- 
lumbus fell sobbing at her feet. She took his 
hand and led him to a seat," wrote the his- 
torian Oviedo, . who was a witness of this 
pathetic scene, "and when he was able to 
control his emotions he recited at length, 
and with great eloquence, the wrongs and 
humiliations he had suffered in her service." 

Ample restitution was promised ; but there 
is no record that the Admiral ever received 
anything more substantial than mere sym- 
pathy. He was not restored to his viceroy- 
ship, and it was nearly fifteen months before 
he could obtain permission to make anoth- 
er voyage. Even then he was denied the 
privilege of an asylum at Santo Domingo 
where, in accordance with his contracts with 
the sovereigns, he was to be perpetual ruler. 
The testimony of the historians of that time, 
however, acquits Isabella of ingratitude or 
indifference, as she was overruled by the 
Council of the Indies, under the malevolent 
Fonseca, and by King Ferdinand. 

After months of wearisome waiting, during 

which he was fed with promises that were 

never realized, the bitter truth came home 

to Columbus: that the King and Queen no 

248 



THE LAST VOYAGE 

longer considered him essential to the suc- 
cess of their schemes for discovery and 
colonization. Other captains, trained under 
the eye of the Admiral himself, were now of- 
fering to carry out those schemes for discov- 
ery without cost to the crown ; other court- 
iers, with high and noble connections, were 
clamoring for governmental positions, which 
Columbus and his brothers had shown their 
incapacity to fill. By his original contract 
with the crown, Columbus was to receive a 
tithe of all receipts from the New World, as 
well as other emoluments and honors. These 
charges upon the voyages and discoveries of 
others seemed superfluous to the avaricious 
Ferdinand, and they were actually very 
burdensome. Hence he did not intend to 
resume them, and, now that his Admiral and 
Viceroy had been deprived of office (though 
he was told it was only temporarily), he was 
to be kept out forever. The crafty King as- 
sured the victim of his avarice and duplicity 
that he would be reinstated after an interval 
of two or three years, during which, in order 
to allow the turmoil in the island to subside, 
some other person of exalted character should 
be intrusted with the government in place of 
the discredited Bovadilla. 
249 



COLUMBUS 

The man selected for this purpose was one 
Nicolas de Ovando, who, though in high 
standing at court, was wholly untried and 
unknown. He sailed in February, 1502, 
with a fleet of thirty vessels, the largest in 
number and tonnage that had been sent to 
the West Indies, and with the most dis- 
tinguished company and magnificent equip- 
ment. Nearly three months later a beggar- 
ly squadron of four small caravels crept forth 
from Cadiz, in the wake of Ovando's splendid 
convoy, the combined tonnage of which was 
only twice that of his largest ship. Only 
nine years before, Columbus had sailed from 
this same port of Cadiz, with three times as 
many vessels and ten times as many men; 
but he did not repine, for, though he had en- 
dured great ignominy at the hands of his 
sovereigns, he was at last on the salt sea again 
in quest of the Indies, which he had sought 
ten years before. The utterly unknown 
Ovando was furnished a fleet of stately ships 
and a retinue of hidalgos. He was safe- 
guarded at every point, and was to reap the 
honors of a discovery planned and achieved 
by Columbus; while the great Admiral of 
world-wide fame was despatched by his un- 
grateful sovereigns with a fleet of crazy 
250 



THE LAST VOYAGE 

caravels, every one of which was unsea- 
worthy at the start. Had it really been their 
intention to reward their new favorite, 
Ovando, with the wealth of Columbus as well 
as his honors, and deprive the latter of an 
existence they had already made most miser- 
able, they could not have taken surer means 
for accomplishing their ends. 

When Christopher Columbus first appeared 
in Spain he was in the prime of life, sound in 
health and vigorous of frame ; but in the ten 
years that had elapsed since his first voyage, 
the hardships and exposures he had under- 
gone in the service of his adoptive sovereigns, 
and the mental anguish they had caused him, 
had reduced the once stalwart mariner to 
a wreck of his former self. He was no longer 
young, it is true, for sixty-six years had 
passed over his head; but his sufferings, of 
body and mind, had prematurely aged him. 
That he at last suspected his royal patrons of 
insincerity, if not of base duplicity, is in- 
stanced by the means he took to secure the 
record of his achievements to posterity. Just 
before sailing on this last voyage, he caused 
copies to be made and legally authenticated 
of all contracts with the crown, all his jour- 
nals and numerous letters describing the 
251 



COLUMBUS 

lands he had found, and these he sent out of 
Spain in care of a trusted friend, with in- 
structions to deposit them in some safe place 
in Genoa. Bitterly he realized, at last, that 
he had nothing to hope for from the crown of 
Spain; proudly he resolved never to ask an- 
other favor of the royal ingrates to whom he 
had given a world and received in exchange 
contumely and rebuffs. In a letter written a 
year later he says: " I was thirty-eight years 
old when I came into your Highnesses' service, 
and now I have not a hair upon me that is not 
gray ; my body is infirm, and all that was left 
to me, as well as to my brother, has been 
taken away and sold, even to the frock that 
I wore — to my great dishonor." 

He had nobly done what he could for the 
sovereigns and the country of his adoption, 
to the neglect of his own affairs; they had 
rewarded him as we have seen ; but he sailed 
on this last long voyage with a mind serene, 
with ambition unabated. He was going 
forth to make one final effort to find that 
hitherto elusive strait, or passage, to the In- 
dies; infirm of mind and body, but animated 
with high hopes for success. Since he had 
opened the way, Ojeda and Vespucius (as we 
have seen) had coasted the northern shores of 
252 



THE LAST VOYAGE 

South America; Vicente Yanez Pinzon had 
discovered the Brazils; Vasco de Gama, in 
the service of Portugal, had sailed around 
Africa, and Sebastian Cabot, for England, had 
explored our Atlantic coast from Labrador to 
Florida. Still, despite their discoveries, not 
one of them had found the shorter route to 
India, in pursuit of which we now find Colum- 
bus, after ten years of eventful voyagings, in 
his old age as hopeful as in youth. 

Not one of those wretched caravels ever re- 
turned to Spain, for two years later their re- 
mains were left on the coast of Jamaica ; but 
never was so disastrous a voyage begun 
under more propitious promises as to the 
elements. Departing from Morocco, after 
rendering assistance to the governor of a 
Portuguese seaport, the Admiral steered 
straight for the Caribbees, where he arrived, 
"without shifting a sail," at the island of 
Martinique, about June 15th. Thence he 
coasted the inner curve of the Caribbees until 
he came to Puerto Rico, from which he de- 
parted for the south coast of Santo Domingo. 
Now, he had been expressly forbidden to 
touch at this island, on account of the ani- 
mosities his presence might arouse; but, as 
one of his miserable vessels was even worse 
253 



COLUMBUS 

than the rest, and difficult to navigate, he 
desired to exchange it for some one of the 
many in possession of Ovando. This was 
ostensibly his excuse for sailing into the 
harbor whence . he had departed in chains 
less than two years before ; but he could not 
have arrived at a less propitious time, for it 
was at that moment filled with his enemies. 
Ovando had arrived three months previously, 
had taken the reins of government, and now 
the usurper, Bovadilla, was about to em- 
bark. He was taking back to Spain with 
him many of the idle and discontented 
colonists of Hispaniola, and also a vast 
amount of gold obtained by his grinding 
oppression of the Indians. Among this 
treasure was a mass of virgin gold so large 
that the miners who found it once used it as 
a table, off which they ate a roasted pig, 
boasting at the time that never a king or 
queen had anything of the kind so massive 
or so rare. 

The vessels were crowded with criminals, 
mostly Roldanites, who, regarding Columbus 
as the author of their woes, hooted and re- 
viled him heartily, when, on the refusal 
of hard-hearted Ovando to allow him to land, 
he predicted the near approach of a hurricane, 
254 



THE LAST VOYAGE 

and begged him to detain the fleet until after 
it was over. The weather prophet of those 
days was equally an object of derision as in 
these, and quite as likely to be in error; but 
it happened that the Admiral made a shrewd 
guess at the right moment, and his prediction 
came true. He bore the insults of the 
rabble crews with lofty scorn, and also the 
murmurings of his own men on account of 
their being denied a shelter which others 
were afforded; but the event he predicted 
came to pass, two days later, and their re- 
pinings were turned to thanksgivings. A 
terrible hurricane smote the island and ad- 
joining seas, and the greater portion of 
Bovadilla's fleet was swallowed by the waves. 
The Admiral's warning was disregarded, and 
the ships had sailed just far enough to re- 
ceive the full force of the tempest. Down to 
the bottom of the sea went ships and sailors, 
carrying with them all the chief passengers, 
including Bovadilla, Roldan, and many 
others who had rejoiced at the discomfiture 
of Columbus. All the vast treasure was also 
lost, and it probably remains within those 
sunken hulks to-day, off the southeast end 
of the island, near the islet Saona. One 
vessel only was enabled to hold on its voy- 
255 



COLUMBUS 

age to Spain, where it safely arrived with 
property of the Admiral amounting to four 
thousand pieces of gold. When this cir- 
cumstance was brought to the notice of the 
superstitious Spaniards, they ascribed the 
dread event to the magic arts of Colum- 
bus, who desired to overwhelm his enemies 
in a terrible catastrophe; but he and his 
friends were prone to regard it as a condign 
punishment by the Almighty of the guilty 
wretches who had persecuted him. Neither 
party, however, took account of the innocent 
who had also perished, among whom was the 
unfortunate cacique of the Royal Vega, 
Guarionex. 

Forlorn and unseaworthy as was the little 
squadron commanded by Columbus, it es- 
caped the fury of the hurricane intact, except 
that the vessel captained by Don Bartholo- 
mew lost a long-boat, and all those rotten 
caravels were strained and shattered. Re- 
fused admission into the Ozama, Columbus 
had sought shelter in a wild harbor named by 
him Port Hermosa, from which, after the 
vessels had been repaired and their crews re- 
freshed, he sailed westerly towards the coast 
of Honduras, where he first sighted land and 
went ashore at or near the present town of 
256 



THE LAST VOYAGE 

Truxillo, It is worthy of note that while he 
was on shore a great canoe arrived from a 
distant voyage to the northward and west- 
ward. It was manned by Indians, more in- 
telligent and alert than any the Admiral had 
seen before, who wore cotton garments, and 
possessed utensils of copper, clay, and carved 
wood of superior workmanship. The canoe 
was laden with cacao beans, which they told 
him they had obtained in a country to the 
northward that contained cities of stone and 
a people wonderfully civilized. This was the 
great peninsula of Yucatan, which was not 
discovered by white men until fifteen years 
later, but which, had Columbus taken the 
advice of those Indians on the coast of Hon- 
duras and sailed in its direction, might have 
led him to Mexico and beyond. It was re- 
served for Hernando Cortes, nearly twenty 
years later, to conquer the Mexicans ; but he 
came near being anticipated by Columbus. 
Instead, however, of taking the advice of 
these Indians, he turned to the eastward, and 
coasted the shore-line of that vast country 
since known as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and 
the Isthmus of Panama. He sought a west- 
ern passage that should enable him to sail 
around the world, and, groping along the 
257 



COLUMBUS 

coast, for forty days beset by terrible tem- 
pests almost without cessation, he sailed 
tierra a tterra, or from point to point, en- 
tering unknown rivers, exploring gulfs and 
bays, all the time beating up against the 
trade-winds, which blew fiercely, as if to turn 
him from the rich country beyond. The 
entire coast country was inhospitable, but it 
was not desolate, for Indians swarmed on 
every headland, disputed his landing at every 
harbor and river-mouth, until he and his 
crews were entirely worn out by continual 
watching and fighting. " Exposure and dis- 
appointment had shattered the constitution 
of the once hardy seaman, and his strength 
was fast failing. His old enemy, the gout, 
had attacked him again, and the miasmatic 
shores filled him with fever. There was, in- 
deed, little left of him but his indomitable 
will. He had a bunk built in the bows of his 
little vessel, where he could rest his weary 
bones and still guide the fleet. And thus he 
explored the entire coast of the isthmus, 
from Yucatan to Darien, finding an un- 
broken line of continent, in defiance of all his 
theories, in contradiction to his reasoning, 
and an impassable barrier to the ambition he 
had cherished for more than thirty years." 
258 



THE LAST VOYAGE 

After a month of beating against the winds, 
the crazy craft at last arrived, with opening 
seams and tattered sails, at the northeastern 
extremity of Honduras, which Columbus, in 
gratitude for a change of course and easier 
sailing, named Cape Gracias a Dtos, or 
Thanks to God. It is on the map to-day; 
and please remember, when you see it, that 
it stands for the heart-felt ejaculation of 
Columbus, at his sudden relief from incessant 
watching, labor, and perilous navigation. 
Now, with full sails and fair winds, the toil- 
worn navigators swept southward along the 
great "Mosquito Coast," where the natives 
crowded to the shores with arms and hands 
full of gold and cotton, endeavoring to lure 
the Spaniards to land, but in vain. For 
perhaps the first time in his career, Columbus 
turned his back upon offers of the precious 
metal in exchange for worthless trifles. This 
is strange, for in a letter written after that 
voyage was over, while he was a prisoner in a 
sea - environed hulk, he says: "Gold is the 
most precious of all commodities. Gold 
constitutes treasure ; and he who possesses it 
has all he needs in this world, as also the 
means of rescuing souls from purgatory and 
restoring them to the enjoyments of paradise." 
259 



COLUMBUS 

Then why did he not tarry, and reap the 
golden harvest spread forth as he coasted the 
Mosquito shores? Because he was in pur- 
suit of that hoped-for strait through the 
continent that should conduct him to the 
spicy isles and populous shores of farther 
India. He never found it, and, though he 
went south as far as the isthmus of Panama 
at its narrowest point, no good angel whis- 
pered to him of that "great South Sea " dis- 
covered by Balboa eleven years later. Thus, 
as we have seen, he came most tantalizingly 
near to the discovery of Mexico, on the one 
hand, and of the Pacific on the other. If 
only that strait had existed, and he could 
have sailed through it to the other ocean, 
in advance of Balboa, of Magellan, of Cortes, 
and of Pizarro! But no, Columbus had 
reaped rewards enough for one man's share 
of world-discovery. That great first voyage 
was sufficient to satisfy an ordinary man ; but 
Columbus was not content; continually he 
was crying out to others, " The world is mine, 
invade it at your peril!" 

He abandoned the search for the strait, at 

last, after he had reached a spacious harbor 

which he named Puerto Bella — the Beautiful 

Port. After the conquest of Peru, a city 

260 



THE LAST VOYAGE 

was founded here, to which gold and silver 
in vast quantities was brought across the 
isthmus and shipped in galleons to Spain; but 
the finder of this port had then been many 
years gathered to his fathers. Ten leagues 
beyond Puerto Bello he yielded to the im- 
portunities of his men and turned about to 
revisit Costa Rica, the Rich Coast country, 
where they had seen gold in immense masses — 
in nuggets, flakes, and grains. They obtained 
at one place nineteen great platters of gold, 
and saw a wall of stone and lime, which in- 
dicated a more advanced state of civilization 
than then existed. They came to a region 
occupied by savages, who offered them gold 
in virgin masses and golden gods from the 
graves of their ancestors; but Columbus 
would not trade, believing them bewitched, 
for the very day he turned about the winds 
turned also, blowing "great guns" for nine 
successive days, and contrary all the time. 
The waves were bright with phosphores- 
cent flames, amid which swam great sharks 
seeking for prey; and in the midst of the 
storm a vast waterspout swept down upon 
the caravels, almost engulfing them in its 
trailing funnel. Finally, abandoning the 
search for the strait, Columbus attempted a 
»8 261 



COLUMBUS 

settlement at Puerto Bello, but, after losing 
several men by disease and the Indians' 
poisoned arrows, he was compelled to depart. 
On January 6, 1503, he regained and anch- 
ored in a river of Veragua, which he called 
Belen, or Bethlehem. Here he determined 
to start a settlement; but there was a big 
obstacle in the way in the person of Cacique 
Quibian, chief of a tribe of naked Indians, 
who was equally determined no settlement 
should be founded in territory which had be- 
longed to him and his ancestors from im- 
memorial time. The Admiral did not think 
it necessary to consult the wishes of Cacique 
Quibian, even though he owned the lands 
bordering the river, but, as he had heard 
there was much gold in an adjoining province, 
he sent the adelantado to treat with him. 
The adelantado was royally received by the 
cacique, whose subjects fished a great stone 
out of the river as a sort of throne for him to 
sit on ; but he would not give him permission 
to exploit the golden province. As it was 
evidently very rich, the natives all wearing 
great plates of gold obtained from it, both 
the adelantado and the Admiral concluded 
to exploit it anyway, with or without per- 
mission of Quibian. In truth, as the settle- 
262 



THE LAST VOYAGE 

ment progressed, the chief became quite 
aggressive and gathered a great army of his 
warriors, with intent, doubtless, of falling 
upon the Spaniards and putting an end to 
their operations. So Don Bartholomew pro- 
posed effecting his capture, if possible, before 
he could do so, and, taking a small force of 
soldiers, hid them in the forest surrounding 
the hill on which the chief's hut was built. 
He then advanced with an Indian interpret- 
er, and, engaging the chief in conversation, 
suddenly seized him by the arm. The chief 
resisted, but the adelantado's grip was like 
iron, and his soldiers coming up at a pre- 
arranged signal, Quibian and all his family 
were captured, to the number of fifty per- 
sons. They were placed in boats to be taken 
aboard ship ; but night had arrived by that 
time, and, as it was very dark and stormy, the 
wary chief managed to escape, plunged over- 
board, and swam to land. Meanwhile, Don 
Bartholomew had remained ashore, where he 
secured the spoils, consisting of bracelets, 
anklets, coronets, and massive plates of gold, 
to the value of several hundred crowns. It 
did not benefit him, however, to have capt- 
ured the cacique, who was now at large in 
the forest, where he gathered his warriors to- 
263 



COLUMBUS 

gether and suddenly descended upon the 
incipient settlement. A shower of javelins 
through the roof of his palm-thatched dwell- 
ing was the first intimation the adelantado 
had of danger; but he sallied forth armed 
with a lance, and, assisted by some of his 
men, put the savages to flight. He might 
not have done so had he not been aided by a 
fierce blood-hound, which sought them out in- 
the darkness and tore them limb from limb ; 
and, as it was, one Spaniard was killed and 
he himself received a javelin wound in the 
breast. A boatload of Spaniards engaged in 
exploring the river were not so fortunate, for 
of eleven soldiers and sailors only one es- 
caped, by diving to the bottom of the river 
and swimming to the bank. While all these 
untoward things were happening in the settle- 
ment, Columbus, with three ships, had re- 
mained outside the bar awaiting a fair wind 
for Spain, whence he was to send back other 
ships with supplies and reinforcements. He 
knew nothing of what had transpired, and 
was about to set sail, when the mangled 
corpses that came drifting down the stream, 
with flights of carrion-crows hovering over 
them, awakened his suspicions. The sea 
was running high, and no boat could live in 
264 



THE LAST VOYAGE 

it, so one of the pilots, gallant Pedro Ledesma, 
of Seville, stripped himself, and, after a hard 
battle with the waves, succeeded in swimming 
ashore, where he found the survivors barri- 
caded behind casks and chests, and com- 
pletely surrounded by savages. The caravel 
which had been assigned the settlers was 
riding at anchor within the bar, but the 
water of the river had fallen and it could 
not be gotten out. Neither could Columbus 
get to them, so, while the adelantado and a 
few soldiers kept the savages off with their 
weapons, the others made a raft by lashing 
two canoes together, using spars from the 
dismantled caravel, and on this they succeed- 
ed in escaping to the vessels outside. They 
were received as if from the grave, and so 
alarmed was Columbus at this narrow escape 
of his brother and friends from massacre, that 
he determined to leave this land of disap- 
pointments and sail at once for Hispaniola. 
The gloom aboard ship was made intense, 
shortly before sailing, by several of the Ind- 
ian captives hanging themselves, after an 
attempt to escape. They were confined in 
the hold of the Admiral's ship, beneath a 
hatch which was chained down, and upon 
which slept a guard. Bracing their backs 
265 



COLUMBUS 

beneath the hatch, some of the warriors sud- 
denly flung it and the guards into the air 
and gained the deck, but were recaptured 
and again confined in the hold. The next 
morning all were found dead, having hanged 
and strangled themselves with ropes. Their 
corpses were cast into the sea; and it was 
with the horror of this occurrence upon him 
that Columbus retraced his course to the 
islands. 



XIX 

SHIPWRECK AND RESCUE, COAST OF JAMAICA 
1503-1504 

COMPELLED to abandon one of his car- 
avels at Belen, where it was left to rot 
in the harbor, Columbus set sail with the 
same number that he had in his first voyage 
for the island of his greatest triumphs and 
worst disasters. He could not sail direct, 
on account of the contrary winds, but stood 
over to the eastward, far into the Caribbean 
Sea, to a point whence he could shape his 
course with a fair prospect of "making" 
Hispaniola. He thus returned to Puerto 
Bello, greatly to the disgust of his crews, who 
in their ignorance imagined he meant to 
renew his search for the mysterious strait. 
Perhaps he did; but if so, his intention was 
frustrated by the work of the teredo, or 
terrible ship- worm, which had bored one of 
the caravels so full of holes that he was com- 
pelled to abandon her in the Beautiful Port. 
267 



COLUMBUS 

This left him but two vessels, the same num- 
ber in which he had made his first return 
to Spain; but they were far less seaworthy 
than the historic Nina and Pinta, and were 
crowded to suffocation. A month of anxious 
voyaging followed, during which these un- 
fortunates were buffeted by storms innumer- 
able, and finally, by the force of unseen 
currents (upon which Columbus had not 
reckoned), set upon the south coast of Cuba, 
in the midst of the "Queen's Gardens," in- 
stead of on the shores of Hispaniola. Here 
they encountered a dreadful storm that 
nearly wrecked the miserable hulks, but re- 
covered sufficiently to bear up for Jamaica, 
on the north coast of which was found a 
sheltering harbor, into which they ran, on 
June 24, 1503. The caravels (as Columbus 
wrote in a letter afterwards) were bored as 
full of holes as a honey-comb ; he had lost all 
his anchors, and his crews were utterly ex- 
hausted from hunger, constant watching, 
and battling with the elements. They had 
only strength enough to run the vessels into 
another harbor, which the Admiral called 
Santa Gloria, and there both ships and crews 
succumbed beneath their repeated calamities. 
The worthless hulks which the Spanish 
268 



SHIPWRECK AND RESCUE 

sovereigns had furnished their Admiral for a 
voyage around the world nearly fell to pieces 
in Santa Gloria, where they were run ashore, 
to save them from sinking with all on board. 
They were stranded on the sands of a beauti- 
ful beach not far from St. Ann's harbor, on 
the north coast of Jamaica, which ever since 
that event has been known as " Don Chris- 
topher's Cove." The caravels settled into 
the sands, the water rising to their decks, 
and, after fastening them together, Columbus 
built cabins of palm leaves in prow and stern. 
These frail huts sheltered him and his men 
for more than a year, while they were drearily 
waiting for a rescue purposely delayed by 
Ovando, to whom a messenger was sent soon 
after the shipwreck. Their provisions were 
already scanty when they reached this haven, 
their ships were now immovably fixed in the 
sands, and not a single small-boat remained in 
which to cross the channel for relief. In this 
emergency rose the man for the occasion, one 
Diego Mendez, who embarked in a frail canoe, 
with a single Spanish comrade and six In- 
dians, for Hispaniola. The channel that 
separated the east end of Jamaica from the 
western end of Hispaniola was one hundred 
miles in width, but about midway was a small 
269 



COLUMBUS 

island, Navassa, at which they touched, at 
the close of the second day, and where they 
found refreshment for their perilous voyage. 
The heat was so intense and the labor so 
severe that one of the Indians died on the 
way, Vv^hile all were so consumed by thirst 
that when they landed at Navassa and found 
a supply of water accumulated in hollows of 
the rocks, three of them drank to excess and 
died upon the spot. But, after enduring ter- 
rible privations, the faithful Mendez arrived 
at Santo Domingo and delivered to Governor 
Ovando the letter from Columbus request- 
ing the despatch of immediate relief. Now, 
Nicolas de Ovando was such a fiend in human 
shape as history reveals to us in the person 
of Philip II. of Spain. His inhuman acts in 
Hispaniola would fill a volume, and record 
the most revolting cruelties that even the 
Spaniards of his day were capable of perpe- 
trating. He hated Columbus and envied him 
his fame. Now that he had him complete- 
ly at his mercy, he resolved to bring about 
his destruction, and, on one plea and an- 
other, delayed sending relief for more than 
seven months ! Then, when he believed that 
his enemy must have perished from star- 
vation or the arrows of hostile Indians, he 
270 



J 



SHIPWRECK AND RESCUE 

despatched a pardoned rebel, one Escobar, 
whom Columbus had previously condemned 
to death, on a visit of observation. Eight 
months after the departure of Mendez the 
haggard and emaciated men on board the 
stranded hulks saw a sail in the ofifing, one 
evening just at dusk. It proved to be the 
ship sent by Ovando in command of Escobar, 
who warily approached and hailed the ship- 
wrecked mariners, but stood "on and off," so 
that none of them could get on board his 
vessel. Sending a boat to shore, with a 
letter to the Admiral and a present of a cask 
of wine and a side of bacon, he waited long 
enough merely to receive a reply to the 
missive, then sailed away into the darkness 
of the night. The astonished and now 
despairing Spaniards looked vainly for his 
reappearance, for he never returned, and 
four months of dreary waiting intervened 
before succor came at last. 

In the meantime, while Mendez was en- 
deavoring to raise an expedition for his 
former comrades, and Ovando was doing all 
in his power to add to their misery, if not to 
effect their destruction, how passed the time 
with the Admiral and his crews? At first, 
having made arrangements with the natives 
271 



COLUMBUS 

for regular supplies of provisions, he did not 
suffer much from hunger, although the food 
was poor and coarse, and, unaccustomed to 
it, and to the confined existence aboard the 
wrecks, he and many of his men fell sick. 
Columbus, in addition to his mental suffer- 
ings, was confined to his bed by the gout, and 
but for the presence of his son, Fernando, who 
was constantly by his side, might have suc- 
cumbed to the accumulation of miseries. He 
reproached himself constantly for having 
brought Fernando with him on this voyage ; 
but the lad was a solace and comfort to him 
all the while, and survived the terrible ex- 
periences of the Veragua coast and Jamaica 
to write a history of his father's life. The 
name Veragua has been perpetuated in his 
family by the title bestowed upon his nephew, 
Don Luis, son of his brother, Diego, and still 
borne by his descendants. 

More than six months after the arrival at 
Santa Gloria, on January 2, 1504, a mutiny 
broke out among the crew, led by two 
brothers, Diego and Francisco Porras, who 
burst into the Admiral's cabin, where he lay 
helpless in bed, flourishing their swords, and 
demanding that he sail at once for Spain. 
This absurd demand was only a pretext for 
272 




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i 



SHIPWRECK AND RESCUE 

license, but was the signal for the mutineers 
to rise, which they did on every side, shout- 
ing: "A CasHlla, a Castilla! Lead us on to 
Castile!" Columbus attempted to restrain 
them, but was forced to take to his cot again, 
after tottering to the deck. The adelantado 
sallied forth, sword in hand, and swore he 
would hack them to pieces ; but the mutineers 
were too many for him, and he was compelled 
to see them depart, with ten canoes and the 
greater portion of the provisions then on 
hand. Porras and his gang at first attempt- 
ed to cross the channel to Hispaniola, filling 
their canoes with Indians to paddle them 
over; but a great gale coming up they were 
obliged to return to Jamaica. To lighten 
their canoes, they threw overboard their 
effects, then compelled the hapless Indians 
to leap into the sea. The natives were al- 
most as much at home in water as on land, 
but the shore was too far away for them to 
reach it, and when some of them attempted 
to rest themselves occasionally by taking 
hold of the gunwales of the canoes, the cruel 
Spaniards would cut off their hands or stab 
them with their swords. This incident shows 
their character; but in truth they were no 
different from the majority of those ruffian 
273 



COLUMBUS 

adventurers who, in the wisdom of Provi- 
dence, were permitted to explore, to plunder, 
and to destroy, in the opening years of our 
New World's history. 

The mutineers dispersed themselves among 
the Indian bands of the interior, where they 
created such a feeling of enmity against 
Columbus and his unfortunate companions 
that soon all supplies of provisions were cut 
off entirely, and the horrors of famine soon 
began to threaten those dwellers on the hulks 
embedded in the sands. Most of the hundred 
Spaniards remaining with the Admiral were 
too ill to forage for provisions, but not so ill 
they could not fill the air with their com- 
plaints; and at last, driven to desperation, 
Columbus bethought himself of an expedient. 
He and his crews were superstitious, but the 
Indians, as he knew, were even more so, and, 
invoking the aid of his astronomical lore, he 
predicted an eclipse of the moon within three 
days, in the early part of the night. The 
rebellious caciques had been assembled for 
the purpose of receiving this valuable in- 
formation, and they were told, furthermore, 
that the Spaniards were under the protection 
of a deity who rewarded those who served 
them and punished those who, for instance, 
274 



SHIPWRECK AND RESCUE 

failed to supply them with provisions. In 
token of his wrath, the moon, which was 
then shining brightly in the heavens, would 
soon veil her face in darkness, and remain 
obscured until they promised better be- 
havior for the future. The simple savages 
hooted and scoffed at Columbus ; but when, 
indeed, the moon went into a cloud and did 
not emerge as was her wont, they became 
really alarmed, even terrified. They robbed 
themselves of provisions in order to placate 
the wily Admiral, and, casting them at his 
feet, implored him to intercede with his 
deity in their behalf. This he promised to 
do on condition that they would not fail of 
supplies in the future, and, retiring to his 
cabin, soon emerged with the assurance that 
their prayers were granted. He timed his 
emergence to coincide with the reappearance 
of the celestial orb, which soon flooded the 
forests with silver light and filled the hearts 
of the savages with joy. They went back 
to their homes in happier frame of mind, so 
thoroughly convinced a great calamity had 
been averted through the intercession of 
Columbus, that they never after failed with 
their supplies. 

Shortly after this event, which better il- 
275 



COLUMBUS 

lustrates the sagacity of Columbus than his 
honesty, occurred another, which brings into 
contrast the different natures of the Admiral 
and the adelantado. The latter was the 
fighter of his family, while the former, if not 
absolutely cowardly by nature, yet has left 
little evidence of his valor. He was coura- 
geous in his convictions, but shrank from per- 
sonal encounters, while Don Bartholomew 
was a very lion in a fight. After they were 
reunited, at Isabella city, he always stood 
as a shield between his elder brother and 
danger. So now, when Porras, the rebel, vent- 
ured one day to attack the Admiral in his 
stranded ship, the adelantado set upon him 
so furiously that he was overpowered and 
captured. This, too, after Don Bartholomew 
had killed several men who had sought to 
intervene, and received from Porras himself 
a serious wound in the hand, after the latter's 
sword had cleft his buckler. This action 
brought the rebels to terms; but their sur- 
render only made so many more mouths to 
feed, and Columbus awaited most anxiously 
news from honest Diego Mendez. 

It is thought that his troubles at this 
period must have affected his mind ; and that 
he was, at least, broken and dispirited is 
276 



SHIPWRECK AND RESCUE 

shown by a letter he wrote and despatched 
by the hand of Mendez to his sovereigns: 
"Hitherto I have wept for others; but now 
have pity upon me, Heaven, and weep for 
me, O earth. As to my temporal concerns: 
without a farthing to offer for a mass, cast 
away here in the Indies, surrounded by cruel 
and hostile savages, isolated, infirm, expect- 
ing each day will be my last ; in spiritual con- 
cerns, separated from the holy sacraments of 
the church, so that my soul, if parted here 
from my body, must be forever lost. Weep 
for me, whoever has charity, truth, and 
justice. I came not on this voyage to gain 
either honor or estate — that is most certain — 
for all hope of the kind was already dead 
within me, I came to serve your Majesties, 
with a sound intention and an honest zeal, 
and I speak no falsehood." 

When we think of him at this time, pent up 
within the narrow walls of his cabin, enduring 
the heat of an almost vertical sun by day 
and the discomforts caused by tropical in- 
sects at night, added to his physical and 
mental infirmities, the hardest heart must 
needs go out to him in sympathy. That he 
survived this period of captivity on the coast 
of Jamaica, in which he suffered all that 
19 277 



COLUMBUS 

mortal man can well endure, may be attrib- 
uted to his hardy constitution. That he at 
last escaped, may be placed to the credit of 
sturdy Diego Mendez, who finally succeeded 
in fitting out a vessel, at the Admiral's ex- 
pense, which reached the imprisoned Span- 
iards the last week in June, 1504, after they 
had been a year and a few days marooned 
on the hulks. At the same time, another 
vessel arrived, sent by Ovando, and in the 
two the survivors of that protracted and un- 
fortunate voyage of 1 502-1 504 returned to 
Santo Domingo. 

Columbus was treated with great super- 
ficial courtesy by the despicable Ovando, 
who in his heart hated him for his well-earned 
honors, and had hoped he and his companions 
would have met their deaths before the 
vessels reached them. He lodged him in his 
own, formerly the Admiral's house, and bow- 
ed obsequiously before him ; but at the same 
time he prated loudly of the vast powers 
granted him by the sovereigns and of his 
sagacity in dealing with the Indians. How 
must the heart of Columbus, callous as it 
was, have swelled within him when he learn- 
ed of what had happened to the Indians dur- 
ing the reign of Ovando ; and how Don Bar- 
278 



SHIPWRECK AND RESCUE 

tholomew must have longed to slay that base 
minion of King Ferdinand, when he heard 
of the terrible wrongs committed by the 
Spaniards in Xaragua! 

For Ovando had massacred every one of the 
eighty caciques who had so hospitably enter- 
tained the adelantado and rendered tribute, 
seven years before. He had murdered their 
subjects in cold blood, thousands of them, 
and put them to the torture. And lastly, he 
had hanged as a felon the beautiful and joy- 
ous Anacaona, who had received Don Bar- 
tholomew like a brother and entertained him 
like a prince. He had done his best, or 
worst, to make the island desolate, and be- 
fore his rule was over he hunted down and 
hanged the last of the five native caciques 
who were in power at the coming of Columbus. 

Not satisfied with plundering the natives 
and shedding their blood, this were-wolf in 
human guise, Don Nicolas de Ovando, the 
trusted servitor of Ferdinand and Isabella, 
inflicted upon them the most outrageous 
tortures. He caused gibbets to be erected 
everywhere, upon which the Indians were 
hung thirteen at a time, "in reverence of our 
Saviour and the twelve apostles"; he burned 
them at the stake, women and children as 
279 



COLUMBUS 

well as men; he pierced them with spears, 
hacked them to pieces with swords, and cut 
off the hands of all he found roving at large. 
The island was filled with lament ; and, writh- 
ing in anguish, unable to endure the scenes of 
misery, Columbus took ship, with his family, 
for Spain, where he arrived after a tempest- 
uous passage of two months — fit termination 
to the most disastrous voyage of his life. 



XX 

THE END OF A GREAT CAREER 
I 504-1 506 

IN opulent, golden Seville, a city enriched 
by his discoveries, indebted to him for re- 
newed commercial life, Columbus experi- 
enced nothing but coldness and neglect. 
He had hastened thither from San Lucar, as 
soon as his health permitted after landing, 
and hoped to find there a haven of refuge 
from his enemies. But they pursued him 
yet, and even to the grave, giving him no rest 
until at last he found surcease of trouble in 
death. His end was approaching — of that 
he felt assured — and his only thought now 
was to "place his house in order," to collect 
the vast sums due him from the Crown, and 
so arrange affairs that Diego, his son, might 
sometime receive those honors and privileges 
which, though solemnly pledged him by his 
sovereigns, had been persistently denied. 
Though accounted wealthy by the world at 
281 



COLUMBUS 

large, and accused by his enemies of with- 
holding vast sums from the Crown, the Ad- 
miral was poor. He never, in fact, from the 
beginning to the end of his life, enjoyed the 
possession of riches. He entered Spain in 
poverty, he began his first great voyage in 
debt for the very caravels that carried him; 
and now, after fourteen years of unprecedent- 
ed services to the country, he found himself 
broken in health and poverty-stricken to the 
last degree. In a letter he wrote at this time 
to his son, Diego, he says: "I have received 
nothing of the revenue due me, but live by 
borrowing. Little have I profited by twenty 
years of toil and perils, since at present I do 
not own a roof in Spain. I have no resort 
but in an inn, and, for the most times, have 
not wherewithal to pay my bill." 

In his own distress, however, he thought of 
the mariners who went with him on the last 
voyage, and who, though they had been 
nearly three years absent from their homes, 
had not received their wages. "They have 
endured infinite toils and perils," he wrote, 
" and they bring invaluable tidings, for which 
their Majesties ought to give thanks to God 
and rejoice"; yet they, too, were neglected, 
forgotten. Present troubles weighed heavily 



THE END OF A GREAT CAREER 

upon the Admiral ; but there was one debt he 
seems to have forgotten : that to the Pinzons, 
without whose aid he could not have per- 
formed the first voyage from Palos. Martin 
Alonzo Pinzon was in his grave, to which he 
had been hastened by the injustice of Colum- 
bus, sanctioned by the sovereigns. The 
Admiral was experiencing the fickleness of 
royal favor, his cup of bitterness was full and 
running over ; but he could not complain that 
royalty alone was capable of ingratitude. He 
writes to his son, at this time, of the services 
so faithfully rendered him by Diego Mendez, 
who saved his life when a prisoner at Jamaica, 
and afterwards labored heroically in his be- 
half in Hispaniola and Spain. "I trust," he 
says, "that the truth and diligence of Diego 
Mendez will be of as much avail as the lies of 
Porras." This honest creature was with him 
to the very last, and some have thought that 
he closed the aged Admiral's eyes when death 
called him. When on his death-bed, Colum- 
bus promised he should be appointed chief 
alguacil of Hispaniola, and Diego, his heir, 
who was standing by, assented ; yet, when the 
son came to power, as viceroy of the island, 
he evaded that promise, which should have 
been most sacred, and poor Mendez went to 
283 



COLUMBUS 

the end of his life unrewarded for an in- 
estimable service. 

Yet, whatever his own failings, Columbus 
could truthfully write: "I have served their 
Majesties with as much zeal and diligence as 
if it had been to gain Paradise ; and if I have 
failed in anything, it has been because my 
knowledge and powers went no further." He 
had, indeed, served them to the utmost ; and 
it was because his powers could go no further 
— because he was now decrepit, impotent for 
harm as well as incapable of rendering greater 
service — that he was allowed to fall into the 
abysm of forgetfulness. He had arrived at 
Seville about the middle of November, 1504. 
On the 26th of that month, while desperate- 
ly ill and unable to proceed to court, he lost 
by death his only influential friend on the 
throne, Queen Isabella. She died after an 
illness of several months, and, the tidings of 
the sad event reaching Columbus as he was 
penning a letter to his elder son, he added in 
a postscript : " A memorial for thee, my dear 
son Diego, of what is at present to be done. 
The principal thing is to commend af- 
fectionately, and with great devotion, the 
soul of the Queen, our sovereign, to God. 
Her life was always good and holy; . . . for 
284 



THE END OF A GREAT CAREER 

this reason we may rest assured that she is 
received into His glory, and beyond the cares 
of this rough and weary world. The next 
thing is to watch and labor in all matters for 
the service of our sovereign the King, and 
endeavor to alleviate his grief. His Majesty 
is the head of Christendom. Remember the 
proverb which says, when the head suffers, 
all the members suffer. Therefore, all good 
Christians should pray for his health and 
long life ; and we who are in his employ ought 
more than others to do this with all study and 
diligence." 

Supremely loyal to the latest breath he 
drew, Columbus could think no ill of their 
Majesties, even of Ferdinand, who, after the 
death of his consort, was less inclined than 
before to have dealings w4th the man he 
and she had created Admiral and Viceroy, 
but whom he had so signally dishonored. The 
great discoverer expected little, if anything, 
from the King, but to the very last he cherish- 
ed hopes of some comforting message from 
the Queen. " Ascertain whether the Queen, 
who is now with God, has said anything con- 
cerning me in her testament," he wrote Diego, 
shortly after the demise of Isabella. But 
the Queen had said nothing. When she made 
285 



COLUMBUS 

her last will and testament, her thoughts were 
of the future, not the past. Promises weigh 
more with royalty than fulfilment, and the 
account with Columbus was cancelled in two 
words: "services rendered!" 

Detained at Seville for many months by 
continued illness, it was not until the early 
summer of 1505 that Columbus was able to 
venture forth to present himself at court. 
He was then too infirm to ride on horseback, 
and so permission was obtained from the King, 
allowing him to ride a mule. This is the edict : 

"A decree granting to Don Cristobal Colon per- 
mission to ride on a mule, saddled and bridled, 
through any parts of these kingdoms. . . . The 
King: As I am informed that you, Cristobal Colon, 
the Admiral, are in poor health, owing to certain 
diseases which you had, or have, and that you 
cannot ride on horseback without injury to your 
health, therefore, conceding this to your advanced 
age, I, by these presents, grant you license to 
ride on a mule, saddled and bridled, through 
whatever parts of these kingdoms or realms you 
wish and choose, notwithstanding the law which 
I issued thereto; and I command the citizens of 
all parts of these kingdoms and realms not to 
offer you any impediment or allow any to be 
offered you, under penalty of ten thousand mara- 
vedis in behalf of the treasury, upon whoever does 
the contrary. I, the King." 

286 



THE END OF A GREAT CAREER 

This special concession was as balm to the 
lacerated feelings of Columbus ; and to be ad- 
dressed as "Don" and "the Admiral " were 
hopeful signs that the King still respected his 
titles, as granted by contract. His hopes 
were dashed, however, when, after infinite 
toil and pain, he arrived at court, then held 
in Segovia ; for Ferdinand received him cold- 
ly, though with courtesy and compliments. 
Months passed, as months had passed before, 
in humiliating attendance upon the court, in 
pressing petitions upon the King, which he 
was nowise inclined to grant, and requesting 
restitution which he had concluded it would 
not be for the interests of the crown to make. 
He would not consent, even, to the appoint- 
ment of Diego to the high offices his father 
was entitled to, though the latter offered to 
waive all his pecuniary claims against the 
crown, if it would only sanction his claim to 
privileges formerly granted by solemn trea- 
ties. Many years later, but only after long 
process of law against the crown, aided by a 
matrimonial alliance with a lady distantly 
related to the King, the son obtained a par- 
tial restitution, grudgingly yielded by the 
hard-hearted sovereign. 

The despair of Columbus is expressed in a 
287 



COLUMBUS 

letter to his old friend, Diego de Deza, Arch- 
bishop of Seville, who then, as formerly, 
aided Columbus with his purse, and to whom 
he wrote: "It appears that his Majesty does 
not think fit to fulfil that which he, with the 
Queen (who is now in glory) promised me by 
word and seal. For me to contend to the 
contrary would be to contend with the wind. 
I have done all that I could do. I now leave 
the rest to God, whom I have ever found 
propitious to me in my necessities." 

If the benignant Isabella were alive, he 
mournfully reflected, he would not be sup- 
plicating vainly for his rights; but he was 
prone to exaggerate the interest which the 
late Queen took in him and his schemes 
during the latter part of her life. Her in- 
terest had waned, her estimate of Columbus 
had changed, and it is doubtful if he could 
have obtained more from her than from 
Ferdinand, had she lived to see him then; 
except that he might have aroused her pity — 
a sentiment to which the cold nature of the 
King was a stranger. A fitful flame of hope 
was awakened in the bosom of Columbus by 
the return to Spain of Isabella's daughter, 
known afterwards as Jiiana Loca, or " Crazy 
Jane," who, married to young Philip of Aus- 
288 



THE END OF A GREAT CAREER 

tria, had come into succession of her moth- 
er's throne of Castile. But she had not wit 
enough to appreciate the worth of Columbus, 
nor will enough to do him justice in face of 
her father's opposition; so the mission of 
Don Bartholomew, who had been sent to 
represent his brother and press his claims, 
came to naught. The Admiral was then too 
ill to leave his bed, and as both he and the 
adelantado felt the end was not far off, their 
leave-taking was most affectionate and im- 
pressive. Don Bartholomew, in truth, never 
saw his elder brother again in life ; and with 
his departure on his fruitless mission, he 
makes his exit from these pages. He sur- 
vived the Admiral several years, living to 
serve his King, and Don Diego, his nephew, 
with the fidelity that was so conspicuously a 
part of his noble nature. 

The Admiral's flame of life was burning low. 
The first week of May, 1506, while arranging 
his affairs, preparatory to departure on that 
last long journey which we all must take, his 
reason seemed to totter on its throne. He 
gave evidence by his writings, at this time, 
that the cold neglect, the continued denial of 
justice, by King Ferdinand, and the asper- 
sions of his enemies of lower rank, had en- 
289 



COLUMBUS 

gendered a gloom which overspread his mind. 
The impression forced upon him : that he must 
depart with his great work unfinished, leav- 
ing those he loved to the mercies of those in 
power who had caused his ruin, depressed 
him to the verge of insani^ty; but as the 
end approached his mind was clarified as by 
fire. In his last will and testament, which 
he amended and signed two days before 
his death, are exhibited those transcendent 
qualities of his higher self, which raised him 
above the plane of ordinary life. When they 
shone forth, in that last awful moment of 
preparation for eternity, all that was mean 
and petty in his nature dissolved away, leav- 
ing his great soul pure and crystal -clear. 
Having made his peace with man so far as 
within him lay the power, and with God so 
far as human vision could perceive, Columbus 
was resigned to die. The end came without 
suffering, on May 20, 1 506, when, so far as can 
be known, he had just completed the allotted 
span of life. 

Ere he expired, he murmured: "Into 
Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit," 
and, with these words expressive of res- 
ignation and trust on his lips, he passed 
away. 

290 



THE END OF A GREAT CAREER 

The great Admiral's earthly existence had 
closed in peace, but the unrest that had at- 
tended him in life seemed to attach to his re- 
mains after death. He had performed many- 
voyages, including eight across the ocean, be- 
fore his final venture into the " unknown sea 
of darkness"; but his mortal relics were yet 
to voyage again. The life of Columbus, as 
the writer of these lines once observed, shows 
him to have had a dual nature : at least two 
towns claim the honor of his birthplace ; two 
nations hold the lustre of his deeds in rever- 
ence; two continents unite in laudation of 
his greatness; after his death two convents 
in Spain held his remains temporarily in 
charge, and now two countries lay claim to 
the absolute possession of his ashes ! It was a 
strange fate that decreed the name of Colum- 
bus should live forever, while his last resting- 
place should be shrouded in obscurity. 

The earthly career of Columbus came to a 
close at Valladolid, in Spain, whither he had 
gone with the court, still demanding repara- 
tion, and still regarded by King Ferdinand as 
an unwelcome visitor,, of whose presence he 
wished to be rid. When seized with his 
mortal illness, he was, as usual, lodging at an 
inn, a wretched abode for one who had done 
291 



COLUMBUS 

great things. It is still pointed out to visitors 
in Valladolid, and the room is shown in which 
he last drew breath. The last rites of Spain's 
great Admiral were celebrated with pomp and 
ceremony, in the church of Santa Maria la 
Antigua; but in 15 13 his body was given 
sepulture in the Carthusian monastery of Las 
Cuevas, in Seville, where, thirteen years later, 
that of his son, Diego, was placed beside it. 
In Diego's will, which was drawn in 1523, 
the desire is expressed that his remains be 
deposited in the convent-vault of Las Cue- 
vas, in Seville, and also : " I would like taken 
there the body of Dona Felipe Munoz, my 
father's legitimate wife, that is now in the 
monastery of Carmen, in Lisbon; as well 
as the body of Don Bartolome Colon [his 
uncle], which is deposited in the monastery of 
San Francisco, in the city of Santo Domingo." 
All except the wife were finally gathered in 
Santo Domingo, in accordance with a petition 
of Dona Maria de Toledo, the widow of Don 
Diego, who stated that it was at the expressed 
desire of the Admiral himself. This, the sec- 
ond removal of the remains of Columbus, 
was made in or about the year 1540, and at 
the same time the body of his son was taken 
thither, both being in charge of Dofia Maria, 
292 



THE END OF A GREAT CAREER 

who afterwards resided in Santo Domingo 
during the remainder of her life. 

It is well authenticated that the remains of 
Columbus were sent to Santo Domingo, the 
"Cradle of Spain's greatness in the New 
World"; yet soon after their arrival all trace 
of them was lost. The archbishop of that 
city, first established by Don Bartholomew 
in 1496, wrote, in 1549: "The tomb of Don 
Cristobal Colon, where are his bones, is much 
venerated in this cathedral"; and all the 
biographers are agreed with the historian 
Herrera, that " from the Cuevas of Seville the 
bones of Columbus were removed to the city 
of Santo Domingo, and are in the great chapel 
of the cathedral." In 1683 the diocesan 
synod states: "The bones of C. Colon are in 
a leaden case in the cathedral, . . . according 
to traditions of the island's old inhabitants.'' 
Thus, in a century and a half, the resting- 
place of Columbus had become a matter of 
tradition merely, but no one knew exactly 
where it was. This is owing to the piratical 
acts of Sir Francis Drake, who once sacked 
the city, and of whom the residents were in 
such terror that they hid themselves, after 
first destroying all evidence of the Columbus 
tomb, for fear it might be desecrated, 
ao 293 



COLUMBUS 

Another century rolls round, and in the 
last decade of it we find a Spanish man-of- 
war transporting to Havana some bits of 
lead, fragments of bones, and pinches of dust, 
which, found in a vault beneath the presby- 
tery of the cathedral, were taken for the last 
vestiges of the great Columbus. As we have 
seen, tradition, only, pointed to the tomb of 
Columbus, for there was no monument, no 
memorial marble, no inscription. It was in 
the year 1795 that, with vast pomp and dis- 
play, the " sacred ashes of the Admiral " were 
transferred to Cuba, in order that (Santo 
Domingo having been ceded to France) the 
revered relics should still remain beneath the 
Spanish flag. The Spanish functionaries sent 
for the remains, had sounded the stone floor 
of the cathedral until they found a secret 
vault, and thence had withdrawn its con- 
tents, assuming that there was no other tomb 
in that sacred spot near the high altar. But 
there was another. Unknown, undiscovered 
for eighty years thereafter, it was found in 
1877, while some repairs were being made to 
the cathedral. A narrow vault was opened 
near the altar, separated from the other, 
empty, tomb merely by a slab of stone. 
Within this vault a leaden case was found, 
294 



THE END OF A GREAT CAREER 

within the case some bones, a bullet, and a 
silver plate, with an inscription, also dupli- 
cated on the lid of the casket. In effect, this 
inscription read : " These are the remains of 
the Discoverer of America, the first Admiral ; 
Illustrious and renowned man, Christopher 
Columbus." 

But were they the remains which the 
Spaniards thought they had removed to 
Cuba eighty years before ? Santo Domingo 
declares they were, and are, still having them 
in keeping ; but a shout of indignant protest 
went up from Spain and from Cuba, voiced in 
the official report made by the historical 
Academy of Madrid, which says: "The re- 
mains of Christopher Columbus are in the 
cathedral of Havana, in the shadow of that 
glorious banner of Castile. It is most fit 
that over his sepulchre waves the same flag 
that sailed with him from Palos in the Santa 
Maria. . . . There rest the bones of the First 
Admiral of the Indies ; there is his last abode !" 

It were "most fit," decidedly, that the 
remains of Columbus should rest beneath the 
banner of Spain, in charge of his adoptive 
country, even though that banner has since 
been trailed in the dust, and though that 
country rendered him only insult and con- 
295 



COLUMBUS 

tumely for his inestimable services. But all 
the evidence goes to prove that the sacred 
dust of the first Admiral is still in Santo 
Domingo, in the island where he built the 
first city, erected the first fort, first shed 
native blood, and where he himself desired to 
rest at last. Whether the remains may still 
be found in Santo Domingo or not, they can- 
not any longer be claimed by Havana, since 
the relics carried there in 1795 were taken to 
Spain in 1898, after the evacuation of that 
city by the Spaniards. Removed from the 
niche in the cathedral wall more than a 
century after they had been placed there by 
hands long since turned to dust, the precious 
relics were again received with salutes and 
ceremony on board a vessel of war, and from 
Havana taken to Spain, where, in the city of 
Seville, beneath the pavement of its great 
cathedral, they were deposited by the side of 
Ferdinand, second son of the Admiral. The 
Spaniards claim to possess the "legitimate 
remains" of their great discoverer, who, they 
say, after making eight voyages to and from 
the New World while in life, was taken on 
two more in death, finally ending at Seville, 
the city which had known him well in the 
period of his trials and his triumphs. 
296 



THE END OF A GREAT CAREER 

But, though it has been conclusively shown 
that, while these remains were not those of 
the great Columbus, they may have been 
those of his son, Diego, who also was interred 
in the cathedral of Santo Domingo. They 
should have been left in Havana, since he 
was the chief colonizer of Cuba; and Santo 
Domingo should have treasured them, as he 
was once its viceroy ; but truth and sentiment 
are satisfied now that the two brothers, 
Diego and Ferdinand, who were devotedly 
attached to each other when in life, lie 
side by side beneath the historic marble of 
Seville cathedral, the inscription on which 
perpetuates their father's glory: "To Castile 
and Leon, a New World gave Colon." 

At the close of an impassioned appeal to 
the world for an impartial verdict on this 
question, a native of Santo Domingo says: 
" And what did fate reserve for the discoverer 
of America, in return for so much faith and a 
life devoted to a realization of the soul's ideal ? 
Sad for humanity to confess, the hatred of the 
envious, the sorrows of a faithful servant, the 
crushing weight of insult, shipwreck, disap- 
pointment, and, finally, a sad and solitary 
death, filled to overflowing with the bitter- 
ness of one who, after having consecrated his 
297 



COLUMBUS 

whole life to the cause of humanity, goes 
down to the grave, seeing that mankind has 
for him only a Calvary. Nearly three hun- 
dred years after the death of the great Ad- 
miral, posterity gave evidence of a desire to 
pay their debt of gratitude, and it was de- 
cided to transfer his remains from one Span- 
ish colony to another. But those in charge 
of the removal made a mistake, and homage 
was paid to his son, while the great hero re- 
mained forgotten in his stone vault in Santo 
Domingo." 

It matters not, of course, where rest the 
bones of him who in the flesh was named 
Columbus; who found the way to America; 
who died without a home, victim of a king's 
ingratitude. Four hundred years have rolled 
by since he died, yet his deeds shine with 
lustre undimmed, his memory is perpetuated 
in a thousand forms. In the course of our 
narrative we have seen and noted what those 
deeds were, and have gathered somewhat, it 
is assumed, respecting the character of the 
man and his motives. Lest the writer may 
have seemed to convey an unfair estimate of 
Columbus, he presumes to quote, in closing, 
from two authors of undoubted fairness, and 
who possess a reputation for erudition and re- 
298 



THE END OF A GREAT CAREER 

search. "The character of Columbus," says 
Justin Winsor, " is not difficult to discern. If 
his mental and moral equipoise had been as 
true, and his judgment as clear, as his spirit 
was lofty and impressive, he could have con- 
trolled the actions of men as readily as he 
subjected their imagination to his will, and 
more than one brilliant opportunity for a 
record befitting a ruler of men would not have 
been lost. 

"The world always admires constancy and 
zeal; but when it is fed, not by well-rounded 
performance, but by self-satisfaction and 
self-interest, and tarnished by deceit, we 
lament where we would approve. Colum- 
bus's imagination was eager and, unfort- 
unately, ungovernable. It led him to a great 
discovery (which he was not seeking for) ; 
and he was far enough right to make his error 
more emphatic. He is certainly not alone 
among the great men of the world's regard 
who have some of the attributes of the small 
and the mean." 

"The grand object to which he dedicated 
himself," wrote the talented Prescott (author 
of Ferdinand and Isabella), "seemed to ex- 
pand his whole soul, and raised it above the 
petty shifts and artifices by which great ends 
299 



COLUMBUS 

are sometimes sought to be compassed. There 
are some men, in whom rare virtues have 
been closely allied, if not to positive vice, 
to degrading weakness. Columbus's charac- 
ter presented no such humiliating incon- 
gruity. Whether we contemplate it in its 
public or private relations, in all its features 
it wears the same noble aspect. It was in 
perfect harmony with the grandeur of his 
plans and their results, more stupendous 
than those which Heaven has permitted any 
other mortal to achieve." 



THE END 



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